


A Matter of Time

by sinclairbushell



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: De-Aged Derek Hale, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:07:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25384297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinclairbushell/pseuds/sinclairbushell
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 31
Kudos: 153





	1. Chapter 1

A matter of time

__

_ Chapter One _

_That fucking bitch!_ Ugh, Stiles really hated magic. First there was Blake (or Bacardi or whatever her real name was) who, yanno, tried to kill the whole town. And now the hag, which was definitely not Stiles’ finest moment. “ _Just go talk to her”_ , Scott had said, “ _she hates werewolves, she’s probably reasonable. And it’s her home so she shouldn’t feel threatened.”_ That’s the last time Stiles takes advice from someone who had set the toaster on fire and then put in the microwave because “ _it’s heat resistant’_ ”. From now on, Stiles and Lydia made the plans.

Where even was he anyway? The last thing he remembered was some Latin incantation and then darkness. Before that, they had been cordially talking about territory over a cup of tea… oh, right yeah… she had probably added some sort of sleeping agent; even though Stiles had swapped the cups when she was distracted, the magical NyQuil must’ve been in all the tea, and the magic words activated them. He really should hound Deaton until he finally gives in and lets Stiles have access to his books on magic, so that he can be prepared for this kind of thing. The Argents’ Bestiary didn’t really talk about witches, warlocks and hags and all that apart from really superficially and Stiles was convinced that they were most likely based on prejudices anyway.

Looking around, one thing became immediately clear. This was not where he had fallen asleep…. there was no ancient commode with little vials, tinctures, jars and Petri dishes. There was no lounge chair, no beads dangling from the doorways, no distinct smell of burned herbs. In fact, there was no furniture at all, only a thin layer of dust across the floor. Getting up, he headed for the front door which was surprising unlocked, revealing a rickety porch and a sign in the front garden reading “SOLD”.

Something didn’t feel right though, and as Stiles wandered across the poor-excuse for a lawn, it hit him. The house layout was eerily familiar, and not so long ago he had been stood in this exact section of the sidewalk with Scott, looking at the hag’s home. How… what? It looked like a completely different house, but it was undeniably the same front porch where she had had a bench swing with problematic-patterned cushions. How had she moved out so quickly? Why was the house old and in desperate need of a renovation? And how had she done it all while Stiles was passed out on the floor.

“I _really_ hate magic.” He uttered, perplexed. Well, if the hag had moved out then maybe the problem was solved, but instinctively he knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Where was Scott, anyway? How long had it been? Checking his phone, he realized it was the 10 am. “Shit.” He’d been in there all night, and if Scott and the pack hadn’t come for him, that likely meant they were otherwise occupied, probably with a hag. He went to dial Scott, but he weirdly had no service in the middle of suburbia. Could the hag magic affect technology? If so, that was something to make a note of. With the prospect of his pack in danger, he immediately set off running towards Derek’s place.

Half an hour later, and things just got weirder and weirder. Stiles’ key to the loft wasn’t working, and things around Beacon Hills were just odd. The most striking thing was the fashion, something was just a bit off. It reminded him of early 2000s fashion, which was odd because the cars also reminded him of early 2000s cars…

“Oh… _oh…_ ” Stiles fell silent and froze, finally realizing the reality of the situation. How could he not have seen it sooner? He had gone back in time. No reception, run down house, no Scott. “…well fuck a duck”.

“So to sum up, you’re telling me”, said a younger Deaton, with a head of hair, “you got sent back in time by a hag, and you’re part of the Hale pack but not the one I’m used to.” Well, when he said it like that it seemed so simple to explain, as if the last 10 minutes of jumbled rambling could have been avoided.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Said Stiles, sitting on the counter, unbothered by the disapproving look Deaton had given him since he was used to disapproving looks from Deaton. Stiles had gone to Deaton’s because he had literally nowhere else to go. He couldn’t go home, he couldn’t go to the Hales because the fire hadn’t happened and he didn’t want to risk screwing up the future and causing some kind of time paradox. “So if you could send me home soon that would be great.” Deaton just looked at him like his eyebrows had fallen off, or actually maybe Deaton was used to that being the emissary for a werewolf pack. Like, seriously, where did their eyebrows go??

“I think you’re wildly overestimating my magical abilities.”

“Oh come on Deaton, we both know you do a bit more than mixing herbs and drawing circles of mountain ash. There’s got to be something you can do.”

Deaton sighed out of exasperation, which Stiles was also used to, and massaged the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Stiles, I only have one book on Time Travel, and its extremely vague, there are bits missing and not to mention its all in Medieval Latin.”

“Oh, awesome, I’ll help you translate it.”

“You know Medieval Latin?”

Stiles shrugged. “It helps in this line of business. You don’t know how many all-nighters I’ve pulled translating a random book shipped from Germany or something so that we’re well prepared for whatever we’re fighting against.” Deaton looked like he wanted to question why there was so much fighting in the future but held back for obvious time-travel related reasons.

“Feel free to translate it yourself, but don’t get your hopes up. Even for those who have spent years studying time magic, it usually doesn’t end well for them. Just be thankful you’re here in one piece.” Deaton handed Stiles a small, leather bound tome from the top shelf of his bookcase. Stiles had actually snooped at it in passing before, only to realize it was way above his pay grade, well it would be, if he actually got paid for being a werewolf babysitter.

“Wait, you’re not going to help me?” Stiles said, suddenly panicked. “How am I going to get home if the only mage I know won’t help.” Stiles breathing picked up, erratically.

“Stiles… Stiles! Calm down. I’ll help, ok?” Stiles began to calm himself down at that, taking deep and steady breaths. “But I can’t make any promises. This is some seriously difficult and ridiculously unreliable magic, and I focus on protection and warding. Because I’m a druid.”

“Okay…” Stiles accepted, dumbly. He was disappointed and still in shock, so much so that he failed to comment on the fact that Deaton had finally admitted to being a druid.

“I need to go back to working now, but Stiles, listen: do not change the timeline, if you do then there’s no way to get you back. I’m serious.” Deaton looked serious, and put on his serious voice, so Stiles knew he was serious.

“Wait what?” Stiles had read a lot of science-fiction, and that most certainly was not a rule of time travel. “Wouldn’t that just cause a time paradox and the universe would implode?”

“No, Stiles. If you change anything then the timeline will diverge to create a new one, and you’ll be stuck here forever. You can only travel in time along your current timeline, so you have to keep this timeline pure, so that it’s the same one as your future one.”

“So how do I know if I’ve broken the timeline? Isn’t it too late, since I’m talking to you?” Stiles asked, earning a rare Deaton smirk in response.

“How do you know that future me wasn’t hiding the fact that I met you all these years ago?”

“Oh.”

“Just don’t change any fixed occurrences and you should be fine. And, obviously, stay away from anyone you know. Time can be malleable and forgiving if you’re intentions are clear.”

“Are you suggesting that timeline purity responds to… my thoughts?” Stiles questioned, quizzically.

“I’m just saying that magic and belief are strongly intertwined, sometimes undifferentiable.” Deaton concluded, vague and unhelpful as always. Well, that’s not true, this time he was just vague. “Meet me back here after closing time, I’ll find you somewhere to stay.”

“Thanks.”

When Deaton had said “ _somewhere to stay._ ”, Stiles had maybe been thinking of a motel, not Deaton’s spare room. It was cozy enough, but Stiles was horrified to discover that Deaton lived above the Vet. He had always said he kept his place a secret because he didn’t want teen wolves knocking on his door at 3am. And anyway, Stiles had imagined a creepy bungalow hidden behind a magic tree or some shit, not an actually well decorated and homey apartment.

Deaton and Stiles had spent 3 hours translating the book, which he aptly named ‘The Time Tome’ to Deaton’s chagrin. They had only translated two pages, and Stiles had spent his time in a diner translating bits and pieces without a dictionary. Deaton had been right about the Tome in that it was vague and unhelpful so far. No wonder those were his two defining traits if all of his source material was the same.

“I’ll find you somewhere better to sleep tomorrow. Stiles, I hope you realize you’ll be here for at least 6 months.” Deaton and he were on sofa after finishing up the translation.

“Yeah… but I can’t give up. My pack needs me.” Stiles supplied, having at least in part come to terms with staying here for a while.

“And Stiles, I already enrolled you in High School.” Before Stiles could object, he continued. “My sister obtained the necessary documents to make it seem like you’re my nephew… adopted. And don’t fight me on this, Stiles, I’m not going to be responsible for a high school dropout.”

“Fiiine. At least I can get ahead so that I have more time for wolfy problems when I get back.”

Deaton nodded. “Oh and Stiles? I’ll be taking that phone from the future. Here’s my old flip phone. It’s pink, I hope you don’t mind.” So Deaton was always a killjoy, then.

Stiles made his way to bed and couldn’t help but miss the pack. Scott, most of all, obviously, but also surprisingly Derek more than he would have expected. It was probably an Alpha thing.

The next day was a Monday, and that meant school. He was nervous, like it was his first day. Technically it was his first day of High School ever, at least chronologically. After picking up his timetable, he took the time to really look at 2003.

The first thing he noticed were the clothes. Girls had impractically small handbags that hung awkwardly from their shoulder. Men donned V-necks and leather jackets, which pretty much explained Peter’s and Derek’s fashion choices. Beanies and Berets ran rampant. Way too many people were wearing sunglasses inside. Suede was apparently a thing, and denim was not solely reserved for jeans. And apparently people were pretending that Vans and Converse were comfortable. Frosted tips, butterfly clips, friendship bracelets and bandanas were also being featured.

Aside from the physical, people were also acting differently. He heard snippets of conversation: “I got totally blitzed last night.”, “Did u bang that crunchy chick or the bangin’ broad?”, “Oh yeah that party was da’ bomb!”, “Tracy was for sure fronting, there’s no way she lost her V-card before me”, “peace out!”. Flip phones were in their glory days, and Stiles could admit that snapping it shut was a much more fun way to end a call. Most of Stiles’ favourite artists were also in high school, so he listened to NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys on Deaton’s Walkman.

He felt out of place, and people were giving him somewhat odd looks. “Nice ass, dude!” A guy called out, laughing with his friends. Stiles then became aware that skinny jeans were not yet mainstream, especially not for men, and it happened to show off his ass. Stiles just blushed and walked to his first class, where the teacher put him in the back.

The curriculum was actually simpler than back home, so he spent his Calculus class making a to-do list:

  1. Translate the Tome of Time (still an awesome name)
  2. Annoy Deaton until he sends me home
  3. Don’t break time



After realising his list was barren, he decided to add a few, since he would apparently be here for a while:

  1. Update wardrobe
  2. Make a friend
  3. Research hags



There we go. That should be fine enough for now. He circled number 4 since it was a priority.

In his chemistry class, he shared a bench with a brunette who kept eyeing him, but he decided to ignore her. Unfortunately, she had other plans:

“You’re the newbie, right? Where are you from?” She asked once they were assigned to work with their partner. She was handling the equipment expertly and confidently, so he let her work.

“I’m Stiles. Yeah, I know, it’s a nickname. I’m from Maryland, just came here to live with my uncle for a while.” She raised her eyebrow at that.

“Cool. Is that what they wear in Maryland?” She grinned, teasingly. She was charismatic, and pretty now that he got a good look at her. He may as well follow her lead.

“No, I just have a terrible sense of style.” She laughed, measuring hydrochloric acid in a pipette.

“I’m going to the mall later with some friends, wanna tag along?” Wait, was she asking him out? That was… quick and odd… he probably shouldn’t do that in case he accidentally alters the timeline. It’s only his second day, after all, and he needs to spend time translating the Tome.

“I don’t have any money right now.”

“That’s fine, I’m loaded.” She said, nonchalantly, pouring a liquid into another. When nothing happened, she frowned. “Shouldn’t this be pink.”

“Yeah, I think you’re supposed to neutralise the acid before you add the PH indicator, otherwise it reacts completely before there’s any alkaline.” After a questioning look from the girl, he added, “I did this last semester. Also, I can’t just take your money- hey that’s my phone.” The girl took his phone and typed her number in.

“Nice phone.” She smirked. “So you’re lowkey a nerd? I dig that.” She snapped his phone shut and put it in his pocket. “Also I don’t really feel like failing this class, so…” she quickly checked to see if the teacher was looking and swiped something from a cabinet, pouring several drops of a pink liquid into the mixture, smiling at the perfect result. “Much better. They keep food colouring in here for Home-Ec.”

“You’re kinda badass.” Stiles said, as the bell rang and she threw her bag over her shoulder, shooting him a look.

“I know. Meet me after school.” She gave him a wink and left. There was something powerful about her personality, she’d make a good politician. Leaving also, he made his way to his next class, but not before opening his phone to see his new contact: Laura H <3

Stiles spent lunch in a bathroom stall, not wanting to affect the timeline more than he already had. He had had one job, and it took him less than 24 hours to screw it up. At least it wasn’t Derek, though. Oh my god, _Derek._ He’d be around school too. This was bad, he’d talk to Deaton and get him to give up on this High School endeavour. He _couldn’t_ compromise the timeline. Time was malleable but not unbreakable.

After school, Stiles rushed to get out before anyone else, practically running to get back to Deaton’s.

“Someone’s in a hurry.” Laura said from behind. _Shit_.

“Umm, yeah, I have to get to the vets.” Stiles covered his back, knowing now that he was talking to a walking lie-detector test.

“Hmmm, no. This way.” Something about the way she held herself reminded Stiles of Lydia. “You can go to the vets after. I know the vet, he’s very patient.” Liar. Ordinarily Stiles would have run away, but Laura was holding his upper arm with her werewolf strength and steering him towards the car park.

“Nice grip.” Stiles said, which caught her off guard, but she recovered fairly quickly.

“I’ve been told.” Stiles realised he was along for the ride now. Anyway, how bad could one shopping trip go? They got into her car and Stiles was confused, again.

“Where are your friends?” He asked.

“They ditched. You’re all mine.”

“You’re kinda scary.”

“I know.” She started the car, a plethora of jangly keyrings on her car keys. “How was your first day, then?”

“Fine. I met this scary girl who cheated in class, stole my phone and almost ripped off my arm.”

“She sounds hot.”

“I think she’s your type.” Stiles deflected. He wasn’t about to lead on Laura freaking Hale. Laura snorted as she drove off towards the mall, possibly speeding slightly.

Laura dragged him to all the main clothing shops, and by the end he was carrying 3 huge bags of clothes and accessories. At least he’d crossed off number 4 while going directly against number 3.

“I feel like a charity case.” He said.

“You look like one.” She responded. “You got time for a coffee?” She didn’t wait for him to answer as she led him to the nearest coffee shop. They chatted for a while and Laura was surprised to see he’d never seen a lot of the movies and shows she was talking about. “You’re like an alien.”

After they’d finished their drinks there was an awkward silence, which as usual Stiles was inclined to fill. “So… got a boyfriend?” She smirked and shook her head. “girlfriend?” She laughed. He was going to have to let her down softly. “Umm, Laura, you should know-“

“Ugh, I knew it! Why are all the nice ones gay?” Stiles blinked. And blinked again. _Gay? I mean… that could work, I guess._

“Ha ha. Yep, that’s me. A hoe-moe-seck-shual.” Stiles overenunciated. Laura smiled.

“You’re so awkward. I love it.” Laura’s phone started ringing then, so she flipped it open. Jeez that was visually satisfying. “Yeah, I’m just at the mall. With Stiles. He’s a person. He’s new. I’ll ask, see you soon. Love you.” She flipped it close. “Sorry that was my mum. Wanna come over for dinner?” Inside Stiles head, the alarms were blaring.

“Nah I really have to get to the vet. Maybe another time.” Stiles said, with no intention of ever going to the Hales’. Laura frowned, but then spotted something behind him.

“Der-bear!” Laura practically shouted, turning a number of heads nearby. _Oh no… no no no._ Sure enough, when Stiles turned around, he could see Derek in a shop across the mall, looking at his older sister.

“Umm, I have to go now.” Stiles said hurriedly, getting up and gathering his bags clumsily.

“Oh, but my brother is coming.” Laura frowned.

“Yeah, sorry, gotta run.” Stiles said, pretty much running out the back entrance of the coffee shop, running onto the main street. _Jeez that was close._ If he and Derek had met, he was risking everything. Yeah, definitely no more school.

Back at the vets, Deaton was most certainly not impressed.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that! It’s not my fault the school is crawling with Hales.” Stiles was making while gestures with his hands, in the way that only Stiles knew how. “And trust me when I say I ran, RAN Deaton! I ran from that mall like I was being chased by two hormonal, teenage werewolves! Which I could’ve been, coz Laura will _not_ let go when she gets a hold of you. I always imagined her as an older, broodier, female version of Derek, but she’s more like Lydia.” Stiles finished his rant, finally.

“You don’t know from the future?” Deaton asked, brows furrowed.

“I- spoilers.” Stiles said with a knowing look. “Anyway, so you can take me out of school so I can focus on this book and get home, away from this town swarming with Hales. How many even are there?”

“You don’t seem to know the Hales very well for someone in their pack.” Deaton said, worriedly.

“I think you’re missing the point.” Stiles deadpanned. Deaton couldn’t find out about the Hale family fire, or he’d definitely try to prevent it. As an emissary, he’d have no issue abandoning Stiles’ quest to get home if it meant saving the pack he’s sworn to serve. It sounded bad but Stiles _needed_ the fire to happen. If not, he’d never get home.

Deaton sighed. “Well do you want the good news or the bad news?”

Stiles looked at Deaton suspiciously. “Let’s start with the good news.”

“I found you a place to stay.”

“Awesome. What’s the bad news?”

“There are conditions that come with staying there, first of all is that you have to continue school.”

“What! Deaton! Did you not hear that I nearly met Derek today?”

“Stiles, take a seat. I need to explain something to you.” Deaton said, clearly done with being interrupted. Stiles obeyed, recognising this as Deaton’s serious voice. “I contacted some acquaintances about time magic, and there is an alternative solution to your problem which will buy us more time and allow you to socialise with all the Hales you desire, although you seem to have shown an aversion to Laura.”

“Oh she’s great, she’s just, yanno, a lot. Wait, so I can talk to Laura and Derek without splitting the timeline? That’s great because even if I leave school, I still think she’ll track me down. What’s the solution?”

“I talked to a more… _specialised_ mage, and there are ways to extract people’s specific memories; a whole year, a few select conversations, a person. I’ve spoken to Talia Hale and she’s allowed this warlock to wipe all memories of you from the Hales after you return to the future. As such, the Hales will never have met you, in their minds, and the timeline will remain singular. I translated a passage from the book today and splitting timelines can actually be very dangerous, attracting the attention of extraplanar entities.”

“Wait you’re going to mind wipe the Hales? How did Alpha Hale agree to that?”

“She trusts me empirically. It’s written in my blood that I cannot betray her. And only the Hales that you interact with.”

“Actually… you’ll only have to wipe Derek’s mind… well and Cora’s.” Stiles said, lamely.

“Oh?” Deaton asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Derek and Cora are the only Hales I’ve met in the future and lets just leave it at that. Timeline purity and all.” Stiles was tight-roping across this social interaction, trying not to give too much away, nor say too little and keep Deaton in the complete dark. Deaton gave him a worried look, but luckily didn’t press him on the matter.

“Well that makes the situation a lot easier as for your living arrangements. I’ll take you there after we translate another two pages.” Deaton concluded. Stiles cricked his neck and put himself into Medieval Latin mode.

“Perfect.”

From the next two pages, which were a pain to translate given that Google Translate hadn’t yet been created, they expanded on the risks of time magic. What Deaton had called a timeline divergence, the Tome called a fracture. Said fracture would release a large amount of interdimensional energy which could attract a plethora of creatures, could interfere with ley-lines, and could cause a cosmic overlap of the two timelines, causing a whole chaos.

The whole thing brought up more questions than it answered, and he was never one to keep his queries to himself: “Exactly how much supernatural stuff is there? Time and memory magic, interplanar beings, multiple timelines. This is all a bit bigger than werewolves.”

Deaton smiled. “Werewolves and other supernatural creatures are just a symptom of larger universal pattern. It’s best not to dwell on things that our brain can’t comprehend, though. People smarter than you have gone mad trying, almost like the cosmic secrets are secrets for a reason.” With that, Deaton slammed the book shut and replaced it on the shelf. “Let’s just stick with time magic for now.”

Deaton still hadn’t actually told him where he was staying, and Stiles’ attempts to ask during the car journey were deflected in the patented Deaton manner. It was only when Deaton drove out of the main town that Stiles realised where they were going.

“Deaton, no.”

“It’s fine, Stiles. It’s all been arranged.”

“Behind my back.” Stiles muttered.

Taking a left, they made their way down the driveway surrounded by trees. Soon enough, the trees made way to a large clearing in which was situated the overly large Hale Mansion. Triple storied and host to the reputable Hale pack that Stiles had never had the pleasure of meeting, the mansion was far more impressive when it wasn’t burned to the foundations.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason my script writer is doing a weird thing with Indentation so bare with me xx

_ Chapter Two _

Getting out of the car, Stiles secretly cursed ever going to Deaton for help. And it wasn’t because this seemed unnervingly close to creating a fracture, despite Deaton’s assurances; it seemed like he was tempting fate. No, it was actually because entering a house full of previously dead werewolves was nerve wracking, not to mention that he was going to be staying with them.

Before Stiles moved away, shopping bags in tow, Deaton told him one last thing: “By the way, I didn’t mention that you’re aware of werewolves. It slipped my mind.” Deaton stayed by the car as Stiles knocked using the great, big, fuck-off knocker which was shaped like a wolf. The echo had barely had time to permeate through the mansion before the door was opened by a little girl with large brown eyes and long brown hair, looking up at him inquisitively. She couldn’t have been more than 10 years old. She must be Cora.

“Hiiiee” She beamed at him, “What’s your name?”.

“Umm, Stiles?” Stiles supplied, taken aback by such an animated Cora.

Cora gasped. “Laura’s been talking about you. LAURA!”

Before Cora could talk to a random person at the door any longer, a tall woman appeared and frowned at Cora. “What have I told you about answering the door, Cora?” The woman said. Immediately Stiles knew by her stature and the general air about her that she was Talia Hale, the Alpha. Her dark brown hair was long and curly, framing her beautiful yet severe face. “You must be Stiles. I’ve heard a surprisingly large amount about you in the span of 5 hours. It’s nice to meet you.”

Now, Stiles knew that the proper way to greet an Alpha for the first time was with a bow, but none of the Hales knew he knew about them. This was a perfect opportunity to have some fun.

“Mrs Hale, pleased to meet you. I’m sorry about this on such short notice”

“Nonsense, you must be shaken. Come in and I’ll introduce you to the family.”

“Thanks.”

The entrance hall was spacious and elegant: a dark wood floor, a large central staircase, and a chandelier gave the impression of grandeur but the royal purple fabric sofas, the deep purple carpet rug and the variety of clutter on the surfaces (ranging from kids toys, to cups, to snacks, and to electronics) revealed a homey and lived-in atmosphere.

Talia called the Hales down with a single shout and immediately the running of feet resounded through the house, as Hales came from every entrance. They ranged from new-borns to elders, and all in all there must’ve been around two dozen of them. When Laura came in she looked stunned.

“Stiles?” Laura gasped.

“That’s me.” He replied. She looked like she wanted to start a conversation but one look from her mother warned her otherwise. When Derek entered, Stiles got to inspect his younger appearance more than the brief glimpse he’d gotten before. He was definitely a bit older than the time he’d been de-aged by curse in the Mexican tomb, judging by his more pronounced jawline and slightly fuller brows, but he was definitely a far cry from the Derek from back home. When Stiles noticed Peter, he was surprised to see how much younger he looked. He must’ve been in his mid-twenties but looked more like a late teen. Nonetheless, his change of appearance didn’t stop him from reminding Stiles of all the awful things he had done in the future, or rather the things he was going to do. It was weird to see him stand next to Laura like family when in a few years he was going to chop her in half.

When they had all arrived, Talia began: “This is Stiles. He will be staying here until Deaton finds a way to send him back home. That could be more than a year from now, so I expect nothing less than treating him like family.”

Then came the introductions. Talia’s husband, Andrew Hale, stood in her shadow, and was seemingly the only blonde in the family. Talia had three more children that Stiles had never heard mentioned, probably out of grief; Ellie was 6, Lauren was 3, and Aaron was the cutest new-born that Stiles had ever seen, his hair so dark it almost seemed black. Apart from the core of the family, Talia’s older brother was called Mike and had a wife and kids, and Stiles was surprised to discover that Peter had a husband and a new-born child called Taylor. Talia’s mother and aunt (and her aunt’s family) were also alive, cackling together to secret jokes and apparently exempt from Talia’s chiding. The two older women were endearingly known as the Nanas, Nana Coral (Talia’s mother), and Nana Evelyn.

When they were done with the introductions, Talia asked Derek to make space in his room for another bed, which Derek didn’t seem to pleased about. Even so, Derek led Stiles up to the 1st floor (or 2nd for y’all Americans) without dispute.

“Can I take your bags?” Derek asked, politely. Stiles nodded. Laura had bought a ridiculous amount of clothes for him. “I missed you earlier, at the mall.”

“Oh right, yeah. Sorry about that, had to run. Also sorry for sharing your room.” Stiles felt a little awkward with this Derek, not knowing how to escape the awkward and tenuous acquaintanceship he’d had with him in the future.

“It’s chill, I’m used to it. I roomed with Laura until a few years ago when our great-uncle passed away. I won the coin toss so I got his old room, which is pretty big. Peter wanted it too but Laura blackmailed him so he wasn’t a part of the draw.”

“What with?” Stiles asked, intrigued. If he could get some embarrassing story on Peter then it would make for comedy gold when he got back home.

“I never found out. This is my room, and across the hall is the bathroom I share with Nana Coral. How come all of your stuff is in plastic bags?”

“Oh, this is just the stuff that Laura got me. I don’t have anything else.”

“Really? I have some spare toiletries I can give you. Great-aunt Gwen always makes a point of taking them from hotels, so she had a field day when we went to Disney Paris. How come you have nothing?”

“Left home in a hurry.” Stiles said, being careful to tell half-truths around werewolves. It earned him a look of pity from Derek.

“That’s rough, bud.” Derek’s room was about double the size of Stiles’, themed around a subtle shade of lavender with darkwood accents. Part of the ceiling was angled around the roof, and in the highest part of the room there was a thick darkwood rafter on which Stiles could see blankets and cushions. The large window looked down upon the backyard, where one of Derek’s cousins was playing with Peter on a makeshift tire swing. Next to Derek’s desk was a bookshelf filled with book encompassing fiction and nonfiction, prose, poetry and comic books.

“Is that the Secret War collection? Awesome, that’s vintage.” Stiles said animatedly. He’d never considered Derek to be a comic buff.

  
“Vintage? It came out last year.” Derek commented, giving Stiles a questioning look.

“Oh right, my bad.”

“You like comics then?”

“Love ‘em. Been a bit too busy to read them recently, though.”

“Feel free to read what you like. It’ll be nice to have someone to discuss them with. Peter used to make fun of me, telling me I couldn’t read so I had to look at picture books.” Derek rolled his eyes. _Well that certainly does sound like the Peter from home._ Derek picked up an issue and threw it at Stiles. “Here, I’m reading this right now.” She-Hulk? It had been a time since he’d read that. After that, Derek and Stiles sat on the carpeted floor discussion different superheroes and Stiles found himself really enjoying Derek’s company. There were parts of this Derek that he’d seen hints of in his Derek, if only in passing while his guard had been down.

A while later, Laura came in, saw what they were doing and groaned. “Not you too. When we shared a room Derek used to leave those things everywhere.”

Derek picked up an issue of She-Hulk and pointed at the protagonist. “Hey look Laura, they made a comic about you.” Derek grinned cheekily, and Stiles swore he heard Laura growl lowly. He thought she was going to pounce when Peter and his husband appeared at the door, carrying a bed between them. Stiles knew Peter could’ve taken it themselves, but it seemed they were acting human.

“Knock, knock.” Peter smiled. “Package for the new boy.” It was going to take Stiles a while to get used to this Peter. After placing the bed, Andre, Peter’s husband, piped up.

“Talia says its light out in 10 for you boys. And you too, Laura. It’s still a school night.” Andre was a black man, soft-spoken and eloquent, a direct contrast to an out-spoken and untactful Peter.

“Ok, Uncles. Night.” Laura said.

“Night kids.”

Once they’d left, Laura narrowed her eyes at the two of them. “Okay, you had Stiles tonight, so I get him tomorrow night.”

Derek just sighed and explained to Stiles: “She gets attached to people and she thinks everything is a competition. You get used to it.” Laura pulled her tongue at them and made her way to her room.

After getting ready for bed, Derek and Stiles lay in their beds in the dark, a half-dozen or so feet apart. Stiles could hear Derek’s breathing. Stiles’ ADHD and current lack of medication meant that he was nowhere near getting to sleep.

“Derek?” Stiles very softly whispered, knowing he would hear him, and acutely aware of an Alpha with superhuman hearing.

“Mhmm” Derek replied, sleepily.

“I can’t sleep.”

Derek shuffled to face Stiles, face very softly illuminated by the moon peeking through the gap between the curtains. “Think of calculus or something.”

Stiles snorted quietly. “I don’t have my meds.” Stiles admitted.

“You need meds to get to sleep?”

“No, I have ADHD. Sometimes I get bursts of energy.”

“Oh… is there anything I can do?”

“No. I’ll just have to wait it out.”

“Wanna talk?”

“I don’t wanna keep you up, though.”

“It’s chill, bud. So, what happened back home? Laura and I have a bet. If it’s not a sore subject.”

Stiles paused for a second. “I… I was taken forcefully from my town.”

“Oh. Child protection services?”

“No… It’s just… can we not talk about it?”

“No worries, man. You can tell me anything though, I can keep a secret better than anyone in this house, especially Laura or the crazy Nanas. People confide in me a lot.”

“Maybe, one day.”

They talked for a while after that until Stiles could hear Derek’s heavy breathing. Stiles stayed up thinking about the fire, and how this perfect family was living in blissful ignorance while a psycho plotted to burn them to the ground. He shed a few tears, thinking of baby Aaron.

The next week went by in a routinely manner. Laura drove them to Beacon Hills High School, and somehow Laura had convinced someone in administration to move Stiles’ classes so that theirs mostly overlapped. Stiles sat with Laura and her friends for lunch, who were nice enough but a bit bland. Stiles realised that Laura needed them for validation, though, since they’d compliment her intensely whenever she fished for it. After school, Deaton and Stiles would translate a few pages of the Tome for a few hours until he went back to the Hales’. On Wednesday, when brushing his teeth, Nana, Talia’s mother appeared next to him, brushing her own teeth and humming some discordant melody idly.

“What’s the matter boy? Never seen a granny with real teeth? Huehue.” She said, with her signature rasp. Stiles hadn’t realised he’d been staring.

“Sorry.” He said, awkwardly.

“You’ve seen some terrible things haven’t you?” She said, calmly but intensely, staring into his eyes in the mirror. “And terrible things have happened to you.” Her gaze seemed to pierce his soul, as he was reminded of one particular night in with Gerard, beaten to a pulp. It wasn’t the pain that had hurt the most, though; it was that no one had come for him. Not even Scott. Stiles gasped as he saw tears were rolling down his face.

“That’s enough, Mom.” Talia said assertively, appearing from the doorway. It seemed Nana obeyed Talia’s direct orders, too. Nana nodded and left quickly, sparing a quick glance at Stiles and smiling as if in apology. Talia came close and handed Stiles a washcloth.

“I’m okay.” Stiles said, shakily. Talia smiled.

“It’s okay to be vulnerable. I remember I used to be the same, thinking that showing weakness was a sign of weakness. But when around your p-, your family, it’s a sign of strength. How else will you overcome it?” Talia paused for a second, looking at Stiles more closely. “We can be your family, if you let us. Don’t worry about Nana, she has a way of looking past peoples’ walls and tells people what they need to hear, whether they know it or not.”

Over the week, Deaton and he discovered what it would take to send someone to the future. Five casters were needed, which Deaton said was doable though he’d have to pull some strings. The issue arose when it came to finding Stiles an anchor. That is to say, someone Stiles trusted wholly who could tether him to this timeline, otherwise he could end up in any one of infinite futures.

“You’ll have to find someone you can trust with your life. Otherwise the risks are too great.” Deaton had said.

Deaton had also been able to get him his proper medication, which was a saviour because coffee was not an applicable substitute, although he had been enjoying his and Derek’s late-night conversations. He learned that Derek was a hardcore nerd, and they were going to have a gaming session soon. Having said that, Derek was also pretty popular at school, a key player in the BH basketball team.

At dinner on Thursday, instead of the usual Laura and Derek who sat by him, competing for his attention, Laura conceded her place to little Lauren. With bright blue innocent eyes like her father, Laura couldn’t really say no.

“Thtiles?” She said, near the end of the meal “why doesn’t you comes home with Der-bear and Lauwa?”

“I have to do some special homework so that I can go home one day.”

Lauren frowned. “I doesn’t want you to goes. You push me higher than Laura on the thwing.”

Laura spoke up from the other side of the table. “That’s because last time you begged me, you broke your arm.”

Lauren narrowed her eyes at her sister. “But we heals reawy qwickwy.” This sent the table into a small panic.

Laura started first: “She just means that kids her age heal quicker, don’t you Loz?”

Lauren frowned again. “Noes. I mean coz we is we-“

Derek went next, looking panicked: “well insured. We have top of the line insurance, because of Mom’s job.” The graunties were just cackling to themselves in the corner, and Peter looked delighted at the anarchy.

Now Lauren was visibly frustrated. “No! We is-”

Talia practically shouted: “Lauren! Remember what we talked about?”

“Yes, but-”

Her father interjected: “Come on, Lauren. Let’s get you to bed. I’ll read you two chapters tonight if you behave.” Lauren just pouted as she was taken from her high-chair.

“Bye-Bye Stiles.” Then she looked to the rest of the table, especially Laura, and blew a huge raspberry. After she was gone, they were all left in an awkward silence.

Andre broke the silence. “Lovely dinner, Mallorie, you’ve outdone yourself.” And from there conversation continued normally.

Derek turned to him impishly. “Sorry… with so many family members sometimes tensions just boil over.”

“It’s alright, I get it.” Stiles smiled and from the corner of his eye he saw Talia let out a sigh of relief.

“So, Stiles, do you have a big family?” Mallorie asked, nicely. Mallorie was Mike’s (Talia’s older brother) wife. She was a pleasant, plump woman, always donning a huge smile and usually heard shouting at people to get out of her kitchen. Stiles guessed that as an in-law she was probably human. Since Mike was often away on business, she also took care of her children full-time, Will, aged 2 and Lucy, aged 5.

Stiles hesitated a second before answering, glancing at Talia. “Not really, it’s just me and my dad now. My mum passed away a few years ago. I kinda have an extended family of sorts, really close friends. I miss them.” Stiles admitted, sadly, revealing emotions he’d been keeping to himself for a while. Like Talia had said, being weak could be a strength. Talia smiled at him gently, and Derek gave his knee a quick squeeze in support.

“Can’t you just call them?” Peter asked, a curious look on his face. He was bottle-feeding his new-born, Ethan.

“Peter.” Derek warned, knowing this was a touchy subject.

“Not really. It’s really complicated.” Stiles said, an excuse he’d been using all week. He wondered how long he could keep saying that before people got suspicious.

Friday was a full-moon, so Stiles wondered what they were going to do to keep him from hearing the struggles of pre-pubescent werewolves struggling to control their emotions. Laura had been antsy all day, shouting at someone loudly at lunch for knocking into her while she was carrying her tray. Derek had been more like the Derek that Stiles was used too, broody, quiet and responding in a clipped tone. Once home, Talia informed the older teens that they’d be going camping. That comprised of Stiles, Laura, Derek, and their second-cousins Lucy and Piper, Nana Evelyn’s grandkids. When it came time to drive off to a campsite (best not to be in the woods on a full moon), the others all exchanged knowing glances.

“Ready to tell ghost stories and eat smores?” Laura asked, teasingly, getting out a compact and doing her makeup in the drivers’ seat. Eve followed suit.

“Umm, sure? What’s going on.” Stiles asked, slightly worried.

“Welcome to the club, Stiles.” Eve said cheekily, handing Stiles a piece of plastic. It was an ID. Oh, it was a fake ID of Stiles making him 21.

“Wait, how did you even get this picture of me?” Stiles asked, mouth agape.

Eve just giggled. “A girl’s gotta have secrets.”

“So… no camping?” Stiles asked, still confused.

“Nope. The adults are always occupied on a f- Friday, so once a month we go clubbing” Laura said as she drove into the parking lot of the club, The Jungle. The _gay_ club.

“Oh… where do we sleep?” Stiles asked, still perplexed. If they did this every full moon, how did they get away with it. Werewolves can hear lies.

“I booked a motel about 10 minutes’ walk from here.” Answered Derek.

“You guys have this all figured out, huh?”

“Peter started the tradition.” _Of course he did._ “We eat the marshmallows on the walk to the motel.” Piper said. Derek had informed Derek that Piper was born a girl but around the age of 8 started presenting masculine and last year asked to be go by he/him.

“Okay but why a gay club?” Stiles asked, eyeing the extravagantly dressed individuals queuing outside.

“We switch it up now and then. Means the girls don’t get hounded by guys. Can’t say the same for you guys though.” Laura joked, causing Eve to laugh heartily, Piper to wink at Stiles, and Derek to blush. “Why Stiles, what’s wrong with a _gay_ club.” Laura teased. _Fuck_. He really had told her he was gay… well rather she’d told herself that.

The truth was Stiles didn’t really know what he was. There wasn’t much time to explore your sexuality when you’re busy avoiding death. He was definitely attracted to girls, evidenced by a 5 year crush on Lydia. But as for guys he hadn’t thought about it much.

“Nothing.” Stiles glared at Laura.

After queuing for a while, and getting past a very suspicious bouncer, they entered a dancefloor populated by shirtless torsos and sweaty bodies. It was a bit overwhelming to be pressed up so close to gyrating strangers, but luckily Derek held his wrist and led him to the bar.

“What’s your poison?” Asked the bartender, a cute guy with blackliner in his waterline.

“Umm… I’ll drink anything.” Stiles answered, not really knowing what to order. It’s not that he’d never been clubbing before, it was that usually it was to track down a sex-obsessed supernatural threat.

Luckily Derek stepped in. “We’ll get two mojitos.”

“I didn’t take you as a cocktail kinda guy.” Stiles told him, speaking loudly since the music was defeaning. Was that Feel Good by the Gorrilaz? Wild.

Derek just laughed. “Thought I’d have a glass of whiskey?”

“On the rocks.” Stiles confirmed, in jest.

“Nah, I prefer it dirty.” Derek said, feigning nonchalance.

“Haha! I bet you do.” The play flirting reminded Stiles of his friendship with Danny, but this was easier, smoother, and there were none of the confusing emotions that Danny had caused him to have.

Their drinks arrived and Stiles spied the other three doing shots on the other side of the bar.

“Wanna dance?” Derek asked.

“As if you dance.” Stiles said, trying to imagine the old Sourwolf dancing.

“Is that a challenge?” Derek grinned, a glint in his eyes.

“Sure. Don’t expect anything from me though. I have the rhythmic ability of a deaf giraffe.”

“Come on.” Derek dragged him into the dancefloor, and Stiles tried not spill his drink, taking a sip. Jesus that was strong. Again, Stiles had been a bit busy (and underage) to drink that much. He was starting to realise how much of his experience as a young person he’d been missing.

When Derek had asked to dance, he didn’t realise he meant if _they_ wanted to dance. Stiles dancing was pretty limited to bobbing and mild headbanging, but Derek was into it. He was mouthing the lyrics to Say My Name perfectly, swaying his hips smoothly, and occasionally his eyes would close as he concentrated on the music. When he reopened his eyes, they very quickly glimmered an electric blue, and he smiled sweetly at Stiles, who felt inadequate. Derek leaned in to shout into Stiles’ ear. “Close your eyes. Feel the music.”

Against his better judgement, Stiles did as he was told. As he let the beat inform his rhythm and the melody inform his movements, he began to sway gently from side to side, moving his feet as he went. He actually found himself enjoying himself. He opened his eyes to Derek beaming at him. They were then joined by the other three, whose dancing style was the opposite of Stiles’: free and unrestrained, even to the detriment to people nearby. Stiles and Derek laughed at them as they mimed the riffs in Survivor.

Over the night, Stiles found himself having more and more fun, either due to the alcohol or just getting used to embarrassing himself on the dancefloor. By the end of the night he incorporated his signature flailing into his dancing, causing Piper to spit out his drink. At some point, Stiles and Derek went out for some air, and Stiles accidentally tripped on his way out and spilled his drink down a blonde girl’s front. She looked livid.

“Watch where you’re going, idiot.” She said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, no need for that.” Said Derek, defending Stiles.

She scowled, and then looked at Derek more closely before her face shifted to flirty. Biting her lips and playing with her hair. “Yeah, sorry, you’re right. Sorry. I’d love to make it up to you handsome gentlemen. Wanna go for dance?”

Derek looked a little put off, and Stiles was trying to figure out why she looked so familiar.

“No thanks.” Derek said, dismissively, continuing into the outside area with Stiles.

Stiles just glanced back at her confused, before it hit him like he was Regina George and it was a bus. _What the fuck._ That was Kate. Yanno Kate Argent, the crazy bitch who’d seduced Derek over months so she could kill his whole family. Yeah, that Kate. What was she even doing here, seemingly alone?

_Oh no_

“Stiles? You okay, bud?”

“Umm…. I…” Stiles glanced back but she was already gone. What if this was the time she and Derek were supposed to have met? She clearly recognised Derek. Did he get in the way of their first meeting, thus creating a new timeline? And what was worse, Stiles knew instinctively that he should try to repair the damage, and tell Derek to go after her, but how could he? How could he actively cause the death of the family who had taken him in and shown him nothing but love. How could he kill Derek’s family? But, how could he not? He needed to go home, to his Scotty and his Dad and Lydia and to his pack. They needed him just as much as he needed them. He began to hyperventilate.

“Stiles?” Derek’s eyes widened as Stiles shrank down against the wall, hyperventilation. It was an impossible choice. Kill the Hales and be complicit to Derek’s sexual assault, or cause a fracture in time which could cause deaths in and of itself. And not to be selfish, but Stiles _needed_ to go home. He didn’t belong here.

He didn’t know how long he’d been there but soon enough that cute bartender was in front of him, calmly telling him to breathe, and pushing away Derek and the other Hales who had arrived, giving Stiles some space. But it wasn’t working. His chest began to ache, and tears began to fall freely, his hyperventilation loud and rapid.

One second, he was thinking about his impossible choice, and the next he was being kissed. Umm, what? Stiles took a moment to observe his kisser: the bartender. Oh. That was really odd, but then he realised he was no longer having a panic attack.

“Sorry, I read that a shock could stop a panic attack.” He said, innocently, but that didn’t stop Derek from growling and tearing him away from Stiles.

“Stiles? You doing okay, bud?” Derek asked, eyes full of concern now.

“Yeah…” Stiles confirmed. He was better at the very least. He rubbed his arms as he realised how cold he was.

“C’mon.” Derek offered him a hand, which Stiles took and stood up on shaky knees. “Let’s go to the motel.” Stiles nodded and the other Hales followed as they retrieved their belongings and coats from the car. Stiles glanced back but couldn’t see the guy who’d kissed him. Derek noticed and clenched his jaw. “Want me to go teach him a lesson?”

Stiles snorted. “Nah, I’m good. He actually prevented a really horrible panic attack.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Stiles just shook his head.

The walk to the motel was fun, with marshmallows, out of tune singing, and Eve and Piper struggling to stay upright, which confirmed Stiles’ suspicions that they were human. Derek had his arm around Stiles’ shoulders for the whole time, and Stiles wasn’t complaining. As emotionally fragile as he was right now, some comfort and intimacy were welcome, not to mention werewolves ran hot, so he was grateful for the warmth.

When they got to the hotel, Laura dealt with the admin while Derek took him to their room, saying their goodnights to the tipsy, giggly siblings. Opening the door and flicking on the light, Derek cursed when he saw the double bed.

“Shit, sorry, I asked Laura to book a twin room.”

Stiles yawned, “It’s fine, right? It’s big enough for us both.”

“Yeah but we don’t have pjs.”

It was probably the alcohol that made him say: “Boxers it is.” At this point he was beyond caring. He collapsed on the bed, stripped down and dug down under the covers. Derek was not far behind, but when they both lay there in the dark, Stiles realised their situation and an awkward silence followed. In character, Stiles broke the silence:

“Sorry for ruining tonight.”

“You didn’t. We had fun, didn’t we?” Derek reassured.

Stiles smiled. “Yeah.” Another silence ensued.

“No pressure but was it that girl? You seemed bothered by her.” Derek asked.

“It was… she just reminded me of someone back home.”

“An ex?” Derek asked. Stiles snorted and yawned.

“No haha. Haven’t had any girlfriends.”

There was a short pause. “Any boyfriends?” Derek whispered.

“Haha no. I’ve been too busy for a relationship.” After another pause, not awkward though: “What about you?”

“I had a girlfriend, Paige. Ended badly.”

“Oh.” Stiles shouldn’t have walked into that. He knew the tragic story of Paige’s death and the reason Derek’s Beta eyes were blue.

“Yeah.” Stiles shifted to squeeze Derek’s hand reassuringly, and surprisingly Derek squeezed back. Stiles had only ever had this kind of friendship with Scott, where you could be physically and emotionally intimate with them without it being weird. Deaton’s words resounded in his head: ‘You’ll have to find someone you can trust with your life’. Not that that mattered now that he’d probably broken the timeline.


	3. Chapter 3

_ Chapter Three _

The next day they all woke up around 10 and begrudgingly made their way back to the car, the human siblings nursing hangovers. Stiles’ brain was no longer panicked, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about the impossible choice. He was just more rational now. At the end of the day, the Hale fire had already happened, and Stiles wasn’t the cause. He didn’t belong in this time, away from his family and pack. He couldn’t be blamed for the fire, no matter what happened from now on. That didn’t stop him from feeling guilty, though, because he’d made his choice: he was going to get Kate and Derek together.

When they got home, Stiles noticed that everyone was tired, and barely asked about the camping trip. That must be how they kept their little ‘tradition’ a secret. Everyone was too worn out from babysitting little werepups on a full moon. Despite looking exhausted, Mallorie greeted them with a smile.

“Morning, kids. Lunch will be ready in 15. Get yourselves washed up.”

Derek and Stiles retired to his room, Derek showering first. Stiles took out his notepad and added to his to-do list:

  1. Get Derek to fall in love with Kate.



He hated writing it, but right now it was his only choice. He knew that the fire happened sometime in early 2005, and the date was currently February 7th 2004, so he had about a year to get it right. He had to somehow convince Derek to go on a date with her, and hopefully she’d take it from there. Now the question was how. Assuming Kate was still looking for a way to get to Derek, hopefully she’d turn up sooner or later, and all Stiles had to do was be the best wingman in the world. Or maybe he was the worst, since he was setting him up with a homicidal maniac.

After Derek was done washing, Stiles turned the water up to a high temperature and let its roll down his back, almost scolding, washing away his sins. He hummed as the heat relaxed his tense muscles, letting it guide him to some much-needed peace of mind. From there his thoughts came upon the guy from last night. It had been his first kiss with a guy, and apart from the devastating emotional turmoil that had been going through his head, it had been nice. His lips had been soft, and Stiles didn’t know why he thought kissing a guy would have been different to a girl. His attention turned downwards to his nether regions which desired some one-on-one time. One issue of living in a house full of werewolves with super hearing was that getting some ‘alone time’ to sort himself out was next to impossible, so Stiles was starting to get antsy. Nonetheless, he wasn’t about to relieve himself when Derek was next door.

After quickly washing his hair and body, maybe paying just a bit of extra attention on the lower half of his body, he walked back into Derek’s room, towel wrapped around his waist. Derek was at his desk, looking through some Playstation 2 games:

“I was thinking we could play on the PS2 after lunch.” Derek said, still looking at the back of the Ratchet and Clank 2 box.

“Awesome. I’ll have to go to Deaton’s though.”

“Sure. I’ve got homework anyw…” Derek trailed off, having finally looked up to see Stiles in nothing but a towel. Stiles continued to rifle through the clothes Laura had gotten him, blissfully unaware. “Umm…” Derek gulped.

“Hmm?” Stiles hummed, putting on a simple white tee.

“Food’s ready!” Talia shouted from downstairs.

Stiles, clumsy as he was, was attempting to put his head through an arm hole. “Coming!” He shouted, trying to rush to get it on but ending up throwing off his centre of balance and landing on the floor.

“You’re ridiculous.” Derek said, as he kneeled down next to him and helped him get his head through the hole. “Can’t even get yourself dressed. What would you do without me, huh?” Stiles stuck his tongue out, before swiftly slipping on his bottoms under his towel. “C’mon.”

The food was delicious, as usual, and Stiles complemented the chef, earning one of Mallorie’s award winning smiles.

“So, how was camping, kids?” Talia asked.

“It was fun. Derek taught Stiles how to dance.” Laura said.

Eve scoffed. “As if that was dancing.”

Piper rolled his eyes. “Yeah coz you move with such elegance and grace, sis.”

“We ended up having an early night.” Derek added. The ease with which the werewolves avoided lying was to be lauded. Kudos.

“Deaton dropped off some things for you, Stiles.” Andre said, handing him a small stack of paper, with a sticky note on top. Stiles frowned. This was unexpected. The post-it note read:

‘Out of town for a few weeks. Made photocopies of the first chapter if you want to translate.’

“What is it?” Peter asked, intrigued.

“Homework.” Stiles grimaced.

“Deaton is giving you homework?” The usually quiet Mike asked out loud, giving Talia a knowing look. “That’s odd.”

“It’s complicated.” Stiles replied. In all honesty, Stiles was glad that he could crack on with the Tome. He definitely wanted to be out of here before the fire, even sooner if possible. He just had to get Derek and Kate on the right track, first.

Once lunch had ended, Derek went to set up the PS2 in his room, but Mike caught Stiles eyes before he could leave.

“A word, quickly?” He requested, smiling. He took Stiles down to part of the mansion than he’d never been to before, opening up double doors to reveal a large library. There was a small fireplace surrounded by sofas, and multiple desks hid in crevices between tall bookshelves. A ladder lead to an upper floor where more books were kept. “This is the library that the Hales have accumulated over generations. Feel free to browse and use as much as you’d like. We use the Dewey Decimal system.” Stiles stood there, mouth agape.

“This is amazing. Thank you.” He said, staring at the countless volumes.

“I figured if Deaton was giving you homework then you might need a little extra help. Just promise you won’t go upstairs.”

“Promise.”

When Stiles entered Derek’s room, Laura was sat on his bed waiting.

“What did Dad want?” Laura asked. “He’s usually the advisor and Mom is the one does something about it.”

“He just showed me the library. Told me I can use it anytime.”

“Huh. Fair enough. Anyway, tell Derek you’re going to come shopping with me, instead of stay at home playing video games.” She said, earning a glare from Derek.

“Umm. I actually did tell Derek I’d game with him.”

Laura just huffed. “FINE. But I have you all day, tomorrow. And you can help me with my Chem homework.”

“Sure, you can’t keep adding dyes to the solutions or they’ll catch on eventually.” Stiles said, causing Laura to give him panicky eyes and Derek to gasp.

“You do what?” Derek asked, disbelievingly. “Oh my Godddd, that is perfect blackmail material. Thanks, Stiles. Mom would flip if she ever found out.”

“Ugh, whatever. I’m gonna go bitch about you two to Eve.” Laura left, slamming the door on her way out. Derek and Stiles shared a grin.

“Okay so what do you wanna play?” Derek asked.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Now that Stiles had the photocopies of the Tome, he could do what he did best: ignore it for a few days and then spend 16 hours working on it non-stop. So, naturally, Stiles spent the day cooped up in Derek’s room, playing games, reading comics and on one occasion, playfighting.

“Dude, you beat me again.” Derek whined. “How d’you get so good?”

Stiles smirked. “I think you’re just terrible. I mean you barely touched me that whole fight.”

Derek growled. “I’ll show you.” And suddenly Derek was pinning Stiles to the ground, which was eerily familiar. Luckily, Stiles knew all of the werewolf weak spots, and didn’t hold back since Derek had a healing factor. Derek looked smug as he sat on Stiles’ stomach and pinned his arms above his head, so Stiles smashed his forehead into Derek’s nose, hearing a crunch. He knew it would be fixed in a matter of seconds, but the pain shocked Derek enough for Stiles to flip them over, with Stiles on top. “What the hell, Stiles.” Derek looked mad, oh no. Stiles tried his best to hold Derek down, but he was quickly being overpowered, so Stiles exploited Derek’s naturally heightened senses by tickling his stomach. Derek’s muscles relaxed and tensed uncontrollably, and he laughed loudly.

“Oh my god,” he got out through laughs and gulps of air. “you’re going to kill me.” Stiles couldn’t help but giggle, and soon enough Derek summoned the willpower to tickle Stiles back. A few seconds later they were a writhing mass of limbs and laughter.

“Okay, okay, truce.” Stiles stopped his onslaught, as did Derek, and they ended up lying on their backs on the floor, breathing heavily and smiling.

“You did way better than I expected.” Derek admitted.

“Oh, so you thought I was weak?” Stiles joked.

“No, I’ve seen your muscles.” Derek slipped out. “I mean-”

“Oh? Has someone been actively looking at my muscles?” Stiles teased, but Derek went a beet red.

“N-no.” He so obviously lied. Stiles went silent for a moment. Wait, had Derek been checking him out? “I just noticed is all. Shut up.” An awkward silence ensued.

“Yanno, I don’t mind. I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“Yeah…” Derek said, awkwardly. “That guy from last night, who kissed you, did you like it?”

“Well, I was a bit preoccupied to notice.” Stiles avoided the question.

“But?” Derek continued.

“I don’t know… I guess it was fine.” There was another pause. “How do you… yanno… relieve yourself in a house full to the brim?” Stiles had never refrained from asking the awkward questions. If Derek’s face had been red before, it was now glowing hot.

“A few years ago, we sound-proofed the walls, because they were paper thin before.”

“Wait what?! I’ve been holding back. I’mma have the best shower tomorrow. Oh, sorry. You get used to my lack of boundaries.”

“It’s fine.”

It was 9am when Laura came in the next day, opening the curtains with no sympathy for the sleeping teens.

“Nnngn Laura. Fuck off.” Derek said, throwing a pillow at her at an incredible speed, which she caught effortlessly.

“Now now, that’s no way to talk to your favourite sibling, is it?”

“Aaron is my favourite.” He said, and Laura couldn’t argue. He was the cutest little thing.

“Up, Stiles. I won’t ask again.” Stiles just buried himself into his blankets. A few seconds later he was thrown onto the floor. “Up! We’re leaving in 10.” She stomped out, leaving the door open.

“So much for that shower wank.” Stiles mumbled, and he could he Derek chortle in his bed. “Has she always been like this?”

“Bossy, no regard for privacy, and evil? Always.”

15 minutes later Stiles was walking down the stairs, yawning with messy hair.

“You’re late.” Laura said.

“You’re a bitch.” He retorted, earning him the middle finger. “Where are we even going?”

“Sacramento. I’ve practically tried on everything in every store in Beacon Hills. And you still need more clothes.”

“What about breakfast?” Stiles’ stomach rumbled as if in agreement.

“We’ll stop off somewhere.” She said, dismissively.

The drive was actually fun once Stiles woke up and Laura dislodged the stick from her ass. They sang along mindlessly to songs on the radio, and Stiles realised that Laura could actually sing really well. He didn’t say anything though, her ego was already taking up most of the room in the car. They stopped off at McDonalds for breakfast and Stiles practically devoured his McMuffin while Laura grimaced in disgust, sipping her coffee.

“So, what’s the deal with you and Derek?” Laura asked, almost casually.

“Wrat djou meagn?” Stiles asked, mouth full. Laura sighed and handed him a napkin.

“You two have been getting pretty close. Even when we’re all hanging out together you two tend to wander off.” Stiles swallowed his mouthful and wiped his lips.

“I mean, yeah, we’re sharing a room, so we were bound to get close.”

“Yeah, but you seem _really_ close.” Laura hinted, and Stiles paused.

“What? No, we’re just friends. What are you on about?”

“I’m just saying. You’re gay, so maybe you want more than friendship.” Laura inquired.

“I don’t really think of him like that. I mean I guess he’s cute, I don’t know.”

“Sure.” Laura rolled her eyes. “You’re boring.”

“Uh-huh. And what about that Joshua guy at school? I’ve seen you two hanging out alone.”

Laura blushed, uncharacteristically. “Shut up.”

“Haha, you’re just like Derek. He says ‘shut up’ when he knows he’s been beat too.”

“So what kind of homework does Deaton have you doing?” Laura pried.

“Wow someone has questions today. Is that why you drove me into the middle of nowhere, so I’d have nowhere to run?”

Laura smirked. “Maybe. Anyway, spill.”

“Nothing interesting. Just some Latin translations.”

Laura frowned. “How is that supposed to help get you home?”

“I-“

“And don’t say it’s complicated or I’ll leave you here until Derek comes to get you.” Laura warned.

“Derek can’t drive, though.”

“He’d run. Anyway, stop deflecting. You’re just like Uncle Peter.” Stiles scowled at that.

“I really can’t say, Laura. Obviously otherwise I would.”

“Dad doesn’t like that you’re not telling us.”

“He told you that?” Stiles asked, surprised. Laura nodded. “Deaton told me that your Mom wouldn’t care.”

“She doesn’t, because she trusts Deaton. But its Dad’s job to second guess Mom’s decisions when he thinks she may be wrong.”

“Oh.” Stiles didn’t know what to say to that, because in reality Talia shouldn’t trust him. He was going to feed her family to the wolves. Or rather, he was going to feed the wolves to the hunters. “So he doesn’t trust me.”

“It’s not that. He doesn’t trust anyone. 99 out of 100 times he’s wrong, but Mom can’t be right all the time.”

Stiles nodded, understanding. Now his out-of-character introduction to the library the other day made a lot more sense. ‘Keep your enemies closer’ and all that. “So how come you know all this?”

“Philip and I are the next in line to be the.. uh- head of the family. It’s tradition. Philip is away at college.” Laura explained. Stiles remembered that Philip was Talia’s oldest kid.

“What about Derek?”

“What about him?” Laura asked, confused.

“Well why isn’t he in line to be the head?” Stiles asked, genuinely. No wonder Derek was such a crappy Alpha in the future. Laura just laughed.

“Can you imagine? Der-bear in charge of the family. I think I’d rather Cora.”

“That’s a bit rude, Laura.” Stiles said, offended on Derek’s behalf.

“Sorry. It’s just. He doesn’t really have a backbone, he’s such a softy, and that’s why we love him.” This so easily explained future Derek. A softy wholeheartedly trying to emulate his mother, scarred by the death of his family and finding all this responsibility on his shoulders despite never having been prepared.

“You could teach him, though.” Stiles suggested.

She shrugged. “What’s the point? Philip will lead and I’ll be his second.” Her naivety actually made him a little uncomfortable, but he couldn’t press the issue. If he convinced the family to train Derek to be a good Alpha, that would in itself break the timeline. Derek was fated and destined to be a shitty Alpha.

“Well, you could at least teach him to fight. I pretty much beat him yesterday.” Stiles joked and Laura laughed.

“Hahaha. But why would we need to know how to fight?” Laura said, eyes mirthful but with a hint of suspicion. _Oops_

“Was just a joke, Laura. C’mon lets go SHOPPING!!” Stiles imitated Laura’s friends that one time they’d all been walking to the mall from school, screeching high pitched and running out of the McDonalds, gaining the attention of multiple customers. Laura followed in the same manner

The shopping trip was surprisingly enjoyable. Laura seemed to have learned from the first time that Stiles got bored very quickly, and at regular intervals they would stop and do something else, like play at the Arcade, get ice cream, have lunch (yes, in that order), walk around the park, and make fun of ridiculous abstract paintings at the museum (“Laura, that is literally a poop-stain”), to the chagrin of the museum employees. At the end of the day, Stiles had thoroughly enjoyed himself, and he had a whole new wardrobe of ‘summer clothes’ according to Laura. Derek was not going to be happy about having to share more if his closet space.

By the time they got home, it was dinner time, and Derek look thrilled that he was back. When he sat down, Derek whispered, jokingly: “did she hurt you?” but it clearly wasn’t quiet enough as he received a kick in the shin from his sister across the table. On his other side today was Peter, who claimed he never got time with Stiles, which was actually true and a conscious effort on Stiles’ part. Stiles always forgot that Peter was between generation, much younger than Talia and only 6 years older than Talia’s eldest. They had apparently called him a miraculous birth, since Nana was 59 and had almost completed menopause when he was conceived. Stiles thought that maybe it was less miraculous, and more of an omen sent from the hells, but obviously that assessment was based on future Peter, who still had his smarts and personality, but was morally untethered after losing his family.

“So, Stiles, how much did Laura put you through. I’m surprised your back in one piece.” Peter joked, but Stiles couldn’t help but picture future Peter saying the same sentence meant as a threat.

“It was actually lovely.” He said, and Laura smiled at him. “She only made me try on a dress once.” The whole table laughed at that.

Laura grinned. “And I have the picture to prove it.”

“I’ll have you know I looked stunning, so you can’t use that to blackmail me.” Stiles told her, and Laura looked annoyed that her plan had been foiled.

“Talia used to make me up and dress my up in girls’ clothes when I was a kid.” Peter smiled in remembrance, and Andre laughed.

“As far as I remember, you stole my clothes and makeup when I was at school.” Talia corrected, and Andre lost it.

“He also used to take my handbags and sunglasses and admire himself in the mirror in my room.” Nana Coral said, chuckling with Nana Evelyn.

“Mom!” Peter said embarrassedly, ears turning red. Oh, so that’s where Derek got it from.

The rest of the dinner continued as such, full of anecdotes and nostalgia. Afterwards, they all piled into the living room after the littlest kids had been put to bed, and watched Mean Girls, since it was apparently Eve’s go at choosing. Cora was excited since it was her first time being allowed to stay up on a movie night, despite the movie being rated a 12. Mallorie came in with 5 large bowls of popcorn, piled on top of each other such that her face was obscured.

There were 5 sofas in the room, but Stiles was still squished tightly between Laura and Derek, the latter draping his leg of Stiles’. Piper and Eve were the other occupants of the sofa, arguing about who had control over the remote. Stiles gazed into space sadly, wishing his pack had done this. On the days that they weren’t doing homework, researching the supernatural, planning, or out tracking something down or battling, they had been catching up on some well needed sleep.

“You ok?” Derek whispered.

“Yeah, just thinking.”

“You look sad.”

“I just wish my family had done this.” He admitted, sadly, looking down. Derek took his hand and squeezed, gently and smiled reassuringly.

“We’re doing it now. Enjoy it.” Derek’s hand lingered and Stiles thought back to Laura’s words when they were having breakfast. Nah, they were just really good friends, best friends, maybe. Laura nudged him from the other side, but Stiles pretended he hadn’t felt it. That was apparently the wrong choice, since he was then pushed roughly into Derek.

“Laura!” Stiles and Derek shouted.

It was the first time everyone else had seen the film, being a new release, but Stiles didn’t mind. It was a classic. Everyone enjoyed it, including surprisingly the Nanas, who sat on their rocking chairs whispering and giggling about the stupidest things.

About halfway through the movie, when everyone was quiet and concentrated on Jingle Bell Rock, Derek leaned in and whispered very lowly, almost so low that Stiles couldn’t hear: “Now would be a good time for a shower.” Then he winked. Stiles chortled internally, trying not to be loud, and he could feel Derek laughing next to him.

After the movie was over, and they all went to their respective rooms, Derek and Stiles sat on the floor leaning against their beds.

“I enjoyed that.” Stiles said, after a moment of pleasant silence. “I only really had that with my Dad and Scott, but it was never the same. Maybe with my Mom, but she died a long time ago.”

“I guess I’ve always taken having a big family for granted.” Derek said.

“Never do that.” Stiles pushed, “Always live in the moment with your family. You never know… you never know when they could be taken from you.”

Derek thought for a moment. “And you never know when you could find a new one.”

Stiles looked up for a moment, locking eyes with Derek. The moonlight filtered through the curtains and an echo of electric blue appeared in Derek’s eyes.

“I can’t Derek. I can’t have another family, not when I could lose that too.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes” Stiles replied, no hesitation.

“Then _trust_ me. Like I’m family. You’re already there, Stiles. You’re a part of all our lives, especially mine. We love you. You just have to make that final leap of faith.”

Stiles hesitated for a moment. “I’m sorry, Derek. I want to, but I just can’t.” He looked down, ashamed. “It’s complicated.”

“I know. I just wish you could allow yourself to accept the love we’re giving you.” Derek finished, before climbing into bed. “You won’t lose us. And if you do, at least you’ll have spent the time with us that you did.”

Stiles didn’t sleep for a while after that. The impossible choice kept ruminating in his mind, over and over. Images of Peter, Piper, Eve, Mallorie, Aaron burning alive contrasted with memories of his pack on the edge of death, as well as those he’d already lost. If only there were a way to keep both safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter a day keeps the doctor away


	4. Chapter 4

_ Chapter Four _

The next day was Monday, which meant school. Back when Stiles was in the future, school was an annoyance in the way of real life. Now, though, it had graduated to a triviality. He did the work, he participated, but it never stimulated him. After school, he drove home with Laura and Derek in silence. They kept shooting him worried looks, but he insisted he was fine.

The truth, of course, was that he was in no way fine. There was a war raging in his mind, and the Hales just reminded him of it. He got his first moment of reprieve when he

finally allowed himself to pleasure himself in the shower. But even then, as soon as he was out, he was sorely reminded of the impossible choice. He’d been naïve to think he could look the Hales in the face every day knowing what he was going to do to them.

He spent the evening in the library, translating sections, surrounded by dictionaries. The creaky door opened to reveal Derek, holding a plate of food.

“You missed dinner.” He said, awkwardly.

“I’m not hungry.” Stiles said, not looking up. It would hurt too much to see the worry on Derek’s face.

“You can ignore me, but you have to eat, Stiles.” Derek said sternly. Stiles sighed and looked up, and sure enough, Derek’s brows were slightly upturned, and his eyes were pleading. “Is it something I did?” Now he looked pained.

“God no, Derek. You’re perfect. It’s just…”

“It’s complicated.” Derek completed.

“Yeah.”

“Then help me understand.” Derek begged. “I hate seeing you like this.”

Stiles paused, thoughtfully. “Take a seat.” Derek looked surprised but sat down on the brown leather couch, and Stiles joined him. “There’s this choice that I have to make. And its impossible. Either way I lose. Either way, other people lose. And every day that I sit here happily, playing happy families and best buddies, I’m just putting off that decision.”

“So wallowing in misery is the solution?” Derek pressed.

“I’m thinking, goddamnit. And, honestly, interacting with you and your family just makes me feel bad.” Stiles admitted. He knew his words were harsh, that was the point. If Derek wasn’t going to leave him be, then he’d just have to push him away.

Derek looked hurt, but then determined. “I might not know what’s going on but I’m not going to let you do this to yourself. You mean too much to me.” Stiles was taken aback at the sincerity of his words. “You told me live in the moment and appreciate my family, and I might not be your family but you certainly are mine. And I’m going to keep appreciating you until I lose you.”

Stiles’ voice was barely a whisper now: “That’s why I pushed you away, all of you. Because I’ve known that’s how you feel. And I feel the same. Especially with you. But that’s why I can’t do this. I can’t open myself up, when the choice I’m going to make means that I’ll lose you all.”

“Lose us?” Derek and Stiles were close now, eyes interlocked. “Why would you lose us?”

“Because I’m going to leave and never come back. And whichever choice I make I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life. That’s why it’s impossible.” Stiles sighed and ran a hand through his hair, tears welling in his eyes “And I don’t know what to do.” At that, Stiles’ voice cracked and he broke down, taking deep sobs into Derek’s arms.

“Shhhh,” Derek said, stroking Stiles’ hair and neck. “It’s going to be okay. I’m here. I’m not leaving. I’ll never leave you.” They stayed like that for several long minutes, Stiles sobbing while Derek reassured him. When Stiles was done, he drew back and his red eyes locked with Derek’s again.

“I’m sorry.” He sniffled. “I guess I thought that by not confronting my pain, I was somehow negating the pain from the decision I have to make. I’m not okay. I’m not okay at all. I just hope you can be patient. I want to be happy. I want to enjoy the rest of my time with you, you all. But it’ll always be a reminder of my impossible choice.”

“And that’s ok.” Derek said, smiling and wiping away the tear marks from Stiles’ face. “It’s okay to feel bad, to feel guilt,” It felt like Derek was looking into his soul. “to feel pain. But as long as you can stay above water, above holing yourself up in the library, you can also feel joy, and love. It’ll be hard, but I’ll hold you through it all.” Stiles didn’t know that Derek was capable of such insight, such inspiration. It really was a waste that Talia had never taught him how to lead. He would’ve been great at it.

“Can I sleep with you tonight. In your bed, I mean.” He released a short laugh, and Derek beamed.

“Of course, bub. C’mon.”

Needless to say, wrapped up in Derek’s arms, Stiles slept like a baby that night.

It was Thursday, and Stiles was better than ever. “Okay, now you jump in front of the prince and tell the dragons to take you instead.” Stiles directed, and Lauren giggled, stepping in front of her cousin, Will (Mallorie’s two year old) and sacrificed herself to the dragon.

“Dwagons! Doesn’t kill the Pwince, take me instead.” She proclaimed loudly. The dragons, Aaron and Ethan (Peter and Andre’s new-born) cooed in their crib, and Lauren giggled again.

“What are you doing?” Talia came into the playroom, looking surprised but thrilled.

“Mummy! You can’t be here. We is practicing for the play. I’s the pwetty pwincess.”

“I can see that. You look beautiful.” She turned to Stiles. “We wondered where you’d all gotten to.”

“Well I thought I’d give the adults a break for a bit. And we’re having fun aren’t we?”

“I pince!” declared Will, holding up his sword as evidence. “Aaron Ethan Dagons!” He jumped on the spot excitedly.

“Now I hope you aren’t going to slay the dragons are you, Will?” Mallorie asked, coming in from behind Talia.

Stiles replied. “Not at all. It’s a very reasonable disagreement in the castle. And besides, the dragons don’t have teeth.” Lauren giggled.

“Well come along your highnesses, it’s bed time.” Mallorie said, leading them out despite their protests.

“Don’t be late for rehearsal tomorrow!” Stiles called out after them, jokingly, earning a determined nod from Will.

“You’re doing well.” Talia said, picking up her son and handing Ethan to Stiles.

“Well everyone has always said I’m practically a child, so I figured I’d get along with them.”

“I mean yes, but I mean generally. I’ll admit I was quite worried the other day. I hear Derek talked you out of it.”

“He was surprisingly insightful. Put a lot of things into perspective.” Ethan held Stiles’ finger in the cutest way, to which Talia and Stiles smiled.

“You know, if you ever need to talk, we can get you a therapist.” Talia offered. “We’ve had visits from her often. For Peter when he was younger, for Derek a few years ago. Definitely for me.”

“Is it Morrell?” Stiles asked. If Talia asked, he’d just say he knew she was related to Deaton.

“It can be, or not. Full confidentiality and all.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“I’m proud of you, by the way. You obviously aren’t my son. But I’m proud of your personal growth. You’re part of the family now.” To hear that from Talia made him tear up.

“I’m… uh, I’m not quite there yet.” He said, ashamedly.

She just smiled, understandingly. “I know.” She hesitated. “If you ever have to leave for good, say goodbye first, especially to Derek. He’s had more than a fair share of terrible goodbyes.”

“I will.”

“Promise me.” She said, calmly but sternly, in a way that only an Alpha matriarch could.

“I promise.”

It was Friday, after school, and Stiles and Derek were in the movie theatre lobby, waiting for Laura and Eve. They were going to watch a new release, that Stiles had actually never seen: 50 First Dates. It wasn’t usually what he’d go for, but the girls said the boys could choose next time. At least he had popcorn, which we was idly munching to pass the time. Piper would have come but he was ill, according to Eve.

“All I’m saying is that you should try it out. You might enjoy yourself.” Derek said.

“Derek, I have literally never played basketball, and when I played lacrosse I was on the bench 99% of the time. I don’t get why you think I’d enjoy it, at all.” Stiles said, tired of Derek’s attempts to convince him.

“Suit yourself.” Derek said, clearly not happy with Stiles’ answer. “Where are the girls? It’s nearly starting.”

“No idea, Laura just told me to wait inside for them.”

“She didn’t tell you when?”

“Nope.”

They waited another 5 minutes, but they still hadn’t arrived.

“Should we just go in?” Stiles asked.

“Ugh, fine. They better show up.” Derek said, holding the door open for Stiles. “Stop eating the popcorn, we aren’t even in there yet.” Stiles pouted, and Derek rolled his eyes but conceded. “Fine, but if there’s not enough for at least halfway through, you have to do my calculus homework.”

“But I did it for you last week, too.”

“I know. I hate it.”

They made their way into the theatre and sat towards the front; the movie only just having started. Stiles quickly sent Laura a text asking where she was, and she replied immediately saying she meant the evening viewing. He showed Derek, who looked slightly irritated.

The movie was actually alright. But as Derek had predicted, they ran out of popcorn pretty soon. Whatever, calc was easy. During one of the more romantic scenes, Derek slowly put his arm around Stiles’ shoulders, and Stiles eased into it, resting his head on Derek’s shoulder. It was really nice to be able to be this close to Derek without it being weird, even more intimate than Scott would have tolerated. Stiles was just a naturally tactile person, and to meet someone at the same level was lovely. Derek rested his head on Stiles’.

After the movie was over, Stiles yawned and separated himself from Derek, smiling at him, and earning a smile back. They walked side-by-side back to the car. After Stiles had in passing mentioned that his love for his car Roscoe, Talia had surprisingly asked if he could drive, and had told him if he wanted, he could take the family car out if he got license. Derek had not been pleased that now Laura and Stiles could drive, but he had still gifted him with a wolf-key ring for the spare car keys when he passed his driving test first time.

“That was… really nice.” Derek said, awkwardly, in the passenger seat. Stiles didn’t think anything of it though, sometimes Derek minced his words.

“Yeah I mean I’m not usually that into rom-coms but I enjoyed it.” Stiles said, starting the car and checking his rear-view mirror.

“Yeah…” Derek trailed off. “the movie.” Stiles gave Derek an odd look but then began the drive home. It was probably nothing.

Stiles was sitting in a coffee shop at the mall, waiting for Derek to finish basketball practice. Since when did they practice on Saturdays, anyway?

He was supposed to be translating but ended up just doodling in the margins of his notebook. He had been thinking about whether he should start actively looking for Kate, instead of waiting for her to find Derek. Still, he wasn’t above putting it off. It was certainly not high on his list of favourite activities, even if it was at the top of his list of priorities. He was taken out of his musings when a figure approached his table.

“Stiles, right?” The guy said, and after a few seconds he recognised him to be the bartender from the club. The one who had kissed him. He instantly went into pink alert mode: pink alert was for boy troubles, and blue alert was for girl troubles, romantically speaking. He was progressive like that.

“Umm, hi.” His insides were turning squishy and thoughts about sexuality and kissing were flashing before his eyes. “You kissed me.” He said lamely. Luckily the guy just laughed.

“I did. At least I was memorable. I’m Joshua.” He held out his hand and Stiles shook it. He looked different from the club, without the eyeliner and with frosted tips on his already light brown hair. Before the whole time travel, Stiles wouldn’t have found this attractive, but his style and taste switched pretty quickly since living in the early 2000s.

“Stiles.” Stiles introduced, before realising that Joshua already knew his name. Well it looked like Stiles was going to be as bad at flirting with guys as he was with girls.

“You busy?” Joshua asked, looking at the papers messily spread around the small coffee table.

“Err no.”

“Perfect.” He sat down opposite Stiles. “What’s all this?” He asked, as Stiles moved the sheets to give him some room.

“Just homework.”

“You in college?”

“No, Beacon Hills High.” The words slipped out before he realised that revealed his age, and thus should definitely not have been drinking at the Jungle, let alone been at said club.

“Oh, shit.” The look of panic in Joshua’s eyes was apparent. “Sorry, I thought you were 18. I’ll be going.” He looked embarrassed and went to get up.

“No, wait!” Stiles said quickly. He didn’t really know what made him do it, but he guessed some part of him wanted to get to know Joshua. He needed some friends outside of the Hales after all, right? “It’s fine. We can just hang out, right. Not breaking any laws by chilling.”

Joshua paused for a second but sat back down. “Sorry. I just assumed you were overage since you were at the club. Speaking of which, you know if I see you there again I’ll have to kick you out.”

“Well, just tell me which days you’re working, and there won’t be an issue.” Stiles said cheekily.

Joshua smiled, despite himself. “You’re a bit sassy, aren’t you?”

“Me?? Noooo.” Stiles mocked. “So why did you want to talk?”

“I was going to ask you out, before I realised you were a child.”

“Well how old are you, grandpa?”

“18, fetus.” Joshua retorted.

“And they let you work in a club?”

“It’s fine as long as I don’t drink.”

“And do you?”

Joshua just smirked. “Maybe now and then.” Stiles snorted; he would have done the same.

“So what’re you doing here?” Stiles asked, since the conversation had run dry. He was trying to avoid an awkward silence.

“In a coffee shop? Getting coffee.” He responded, lifting his coffee to demonstrate.

“Sorry, I’m not good at this, apparently.” Stiles said, awkwardly.

“At what?”

“Talking to cute guys.”

Joshua laughed. “You’re underage, Stiles.”

“I can still flirt, can’t I?”

“Just don’t phone the cops on me, will you.”

Stiles laughed. “My dad’s the Sheriff- a Sheriff, back where I’m from.”

“So you’re basically jailbait.”

“Hey! I’m 18 in less than two months.”

“Well then its 2 months until our first date.” Joshua said with confidence, but Stiles could see the nervousness behind the front.

“What?” Stiles was taken aback.

“I mean, if you want.”

“Uhh, I’ll think about it.” The truth was, even though Stiles had butterflies in his stomach and not so covertly kept glancing at Joshua’s lips, he had never even gone on a date with a girl before, so the prospect was daunting. In any case, he could be gone by then, although that was unlikely.

“Sure, sure, that’s chill. Could I get your number?”

“Yeah sure.” They exchanged numbers and Stiles realised he had 7 texts from Derek. “Oh shit, gotta go. Text me, yeah?” Joshua looked disappointed but agreed to text him later. Looking at the texts from Derek, he was not happy:

_hey im at the mall. where r u?_

_whatever, ill find u_

_who r u talking 2??_

_is that they guy from the club???_

_DID HE JUST ASK U OUT_

_hes like way older than u what r u thinking_

_ill see u in the car_

Uh-oh. Sure enough, Derek was in the car park in the passenger seat, looking broody and so much more like future Derek. Stiles sighed, going to open the door when he realised it was locked. Right, he had given Derek the keys so he could wait in the car.

“If you’re going to act like a child, the least you can do is get in Aaron’s booster seat. Even he would unlock the door, if he could.” Stiles said, not at all amused by Derek’s unjustified behaviour.

Derek stuck his tongue out, but he did reach over and unlock the door. Stiles got in and they sat in silence for a second, both staring ahead at the blank wall.

“Are you going to talk to me?” Stiles asked. Derek just ignored him. “Yanno he’s 18, so don’t act like he’s taking advantage of me. And I also didn’t even say yes.” Derek continued to stare blankly ahead. “Ugh fine. Be like that. I see where Lauren gets her tantrums from.” Derek stuck his tongue out again. God, he was such a child sometimes. Stiles started the car and drove the car home, pretending like nothing was wrong, singing along to the radio loudly and out of key because he knew it would annoy Derek.

When they got home, Derek stormed straight past Andre and upstairs into his room, slamming the door.

“Ah.” Andre said, in understanding. “He’s having one of his quiet tantrums.”

“He does this a lot?” Stiles asked in disbelief. Maybe future Derek was just having one ginormous tantrum.

Andre shook his head. “Not for a while, but he’s been known to hole himself in his room for days until Talia shouts at him and they have a massive fight. Who set him off?”

“Me.”

“Well then if I were you I’d be prepared to sleep in Laura’s room tonight.” Andre advised.

Stiles huffed, pissed off. “Not likely.”

This was when Laura and Eve came it, hearing the commotion.

“What’s going on?” Laura asked, confused, glancing upstairs as if hearing something.

“Derek is being a dickhead.” Stiles supplied. Andre let his language slide.

“He’s in one of his moods.” Andre corrected.

Eve looked worried and Laura looked fed up.

“What happened?” Laura asked, Stiles, almost accusingly.

“Nothing! Some guy just asked me out and he was eavesdropping and then this happened.” Stiles explained. “He’s being stupid.”

Eve and Laura shared a knowing glance. “I’ll go talk to him” Laura said. “If I don’t come out in an hour, call the cops.” Laura joked, half-heartedly, making her way up the stairs.

Eve looked at Stiles with sympathy. “It won’t last. C’mon, we’re making cookies for Mallorie, before she gets home from shopping.” Stiles was still irritated but if he could sneakily eat some of the batter, then he guessed that sounded fun.

Derek stayed in his room during dinner time, despite Laura’s best efforts. Even though people were doing their best to ignore the elephant in the room, Stiles noticed the empty seat next to him keenly. He wondered if this is how Derek had felt when he had skipped a meal during his breakdown.

“So, Stiles, Andre told me you were asked on a date.” Peter said, without tact, earning a very pointed look from Andre. The table fell quiet as everyone was intrigued to hear Stiles’ recount the story, knowing that this was the reason for Derek’s tantrum; it seemed that gossip spread more quickly than fire around the Hale household.

“Yeah, it’s a guy I met that night we went out during the full moon.” Stiles said, awkwardly.

Always one to fill the silence, Eve blurted out: “He and Stiles kissed.” God she was such a gossip. Stiles made a mental note to never tell her a secret. The family was looking at him as if wanting an explanation, apart from Lauren and Ellie who scrunched their faces up at the idea of kissing.

“Errr. Actually he kissed me coz I was having a panic attack… anyway, yeah he was at the coffee shop in the mall and introduced himself as Joshua and asked me out after a bit.”

“Well,” Mallorie said, supportively. “what did you say?”

“He said he’d have to think about it.” Eve answered, and Stiles kicked her roughly under the table as if to say ‘stop interrupting me’. She rolled her eyes and resumed eating her dinner.

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. He’s cute, I guess, but I’ve never been on a date before.” He admitted. Laura and Eve shared another odd look. Stiles would have to interrogate them on what they knew. This was uncomfortable in front of the whole family, and Stiles felt himself going red. At least Derek wasn’t here.

“All the more reason to say yes.” Mallorie said. “Once you get it out the way, the next date you go on will be a piece of cake.” She smiled at him.

“Anyway,” Talia said, picking up on Stiles discomfort. “Eve, didn’t you go on a date the other day?” Eve looked like a deer stuck in headlight, clearly not expecting this to come bite her in the ass.

“Yeah Eve, tell us about your date.” Stiles teased, getting an incredibly hard kick in return. Fuck, that was gonna bruise.

The conversation returned to normal after that, and Stiles was grateful to Talia for saving his skin.

After dinner, Stiles had calmed down and was no longer mad at Derek, he just wanted his friend back. He knocked gently on the door.

“Derek? Can we talk?” There was no response. Stiles took a deep breath, trying not to let Derek’s pettiness wind him up again. He opened the door, anyway, grateful that Talia forbade locks on doors. Derek was lying in his bed, facing away from Stiles. “Derek?” Stiles asked, shutting the door behind him.

“Go away.”

“Oh, so he talks.” Stiles slipped out, forgetting he was supposed to not let Derek get to him. “Are you okay?” Again, no answer. “Well if you won’t reply I guess I’ll just talk at you.” Stiles waited a second before continuing, sitting on his own bed. “Number one: You were eavesdropping, which by the way is rude so I think I’m owed an apology. Number two: He’s 18 so whatever you think about him being ‘way older’ is just dumb. Number three: I didn’t even say yes, and I’m still undecided.” Stiles stood up and walked over to Derek’s bed, putting a hand on his arm. “Number four: I want my best friend back. I don’t know if there’s something else I did or said, but I can’t stand this. I don’t want us to fight”

Derek rolled over to face Stiles, and Stiles wasn’t sure if he’d been crying but his eyes did look slightly more red than usual. He looked to be trying to find the right words. “I… I don’t like him.” Derek said.

“What, why?”

“I just get a bad vibe from him.” Derek said, dumbly. Stiles mulled that over in his head.

“Okay… well it’s my life so…” Stiles said, not wanting to annoy Derek now that he was speaking.

“I know. It’s just… if you start dating, then maybe you’ll forget about me.” Derek said, voicing only one of his multiple issues with the situation.

“Don’t be dumb, Derek.” Stiles said, sitting down next to Derek and taking his hand, rubbing it reassuringly. “You’re the best. You’re my best friend. I’m not ever going to forget you.” He said, candidly, because he wouldn’t. This Derek was kind, funny, sweet, charismatic but also awkward, and had probably been a better friend than Stiles deserved.

Derek sniffled quietly, and Stiles lay down next to him to give him a hug, almost falling off the bed. Derek wrapped his arm around Stiles’ back and shuffled to give Stiles room. They stayed like that, for a moment.

“I’m sorry.” Derek said. “For eavesdropping. And overreacting.” Stiles smiled into the nook of Derek’s neck.

“It’s ok. Just don’t shut me out next time we have an argument. I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Derek said, exhaling deeply. “Now, do my calc homework to prove how much you missed me.” Derek said, and Stiles laughed into his neck. They cuddled for a while longer, before Derek tensed up.

“What’s wrong?” Stiles asked, looking up to see the frown on Derek’s face. Derek just put a finger over his lips, and then climbed down from the bed quiet as a mouse, making his way towards the door on all fours. He looked really dumb. When Derek got to the door, he threw the door open quickly, and Laura and Eve fell into the room on top of one another.

“Hey bro, what’s up.” Laura smiled up at him from the floor, innocently.

“Never mind, Stiles.” Derek said, cheekily. “I found someone else to do my homework.” Laura just groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I think I figured out the lack of indentation happens after I finish a paragraph with a quotation mark. If anyone has any idea how to turn this feature off on Word, lemme know.   
> Also I started building the Hale house on the Sims 4, heavily inspired by the one in the show. If anyone is interested then leave a comment and when I finish it ill post pics of it.  
> I guess a chapter a day doesn't actually keep the doctor away, because I had to call 111 for an eye issue. All resolved now!  
> Lemme know what y'all think :)


	5. Chapter 5

_ Chapter Five _

“Nice job on the translation by the way.” Deaton said, a rare compliment from him. It was a few weeks later, 1st March to be precise, and Stiles had a received a text from Deaton during school, telling him that he was back in town and to visit after school. They were now sat in his living room, an upgrade from the back room of the vet, drinking herbal tea that Deaton had already prepared, perfectly warm as if he knew when Stiles was arriving. Sometimes he was undeniably creepy.

“Thanks. Even if the chapter was pretty much useless.” Stiles said, because it had been. It spoke at length about the different kind of entities that manipulated and fed off of time energy, and it hadn’t even mentioned a hag. Deaton nodded, admitting it to have been a waste of time. “Although, I’ve memorised the weaknesses of any creatures that would come if there was a fracture. Most are susceptible to mountain ash so if I could get a bag just in case?”

“If there were.” Deaton corrected. He was such a pretentious twat sometimes. “And you know how to use mountain ash?” Deaton asked, surprised.

“I mean, it’s pretty simple, you just draw a line on the ground. What do you mean?”

“It’s _not_ that simple, Stiles. To create an effective mountain ash barrier, you have to have a spark. That’s why I’m surprised.”

“Yeah you told me all that mumbo-jumbo in the future too.”

“It’s not mumbo-jumbo, Stiles. I’ve been wondering why and how a hag would send you back in time, and it doesn’t add up. Over the last fortnight, I’ve been tracking down an infamous hag in Texas, and we had a very… interesting conversation. She told me even hags know not to mess with something as volatile and difficult to work with as time magic.”

“So what are you saying?” Stiles asked, confused.

“I think the hag just banished you, or maybe worse. I think it was a spark inside of you that saved you and led you here.”

“Wait,” Stiles got up and paced around the room. “are you suggesting that _I_ brought myself back in time? Because that’s ridiculous, Deaton. I’m not magic.”

“You may not have ever cast a spell or created a ward, but some people are just born magical, Stiles, for whatever reason. For some it's hidden and hereditary, passed down by generations, sometimes skipping dozens. Other times its due to unnatural exposure to telluric activity and-”

Stiles gasped. Telluric currents? Like the ones produced by: “The Nemeton.” He whispered. Deaton’s expression went from pensive to shocked.

“What did you say?” Deaton asked.

“The Nemeton. We… umm..” Stiles was shaking now. “In the future, the Nemeton, yanno that dead tree stump, is reawakened by a Darach. Well technically it has already been kinda awakened but anyway… you guided us through a ritual of surrogate sacrifice, I can’t say anymore. All I know is that multiple telluric currents converge here, and that as part of the sacrifice I had to die.”

“And you came back to life, obviously. If the Nemeton were awake, then the telluric currents here would maybe be strong enough to infuse you with the spark as you came back to life.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. I used mountain ash before then. You talked about a spark before then.”

“Nonetheless, when the hag did something to you, the magic inside of you took you here. Hags don’t meddle with time magic, its raw and powerful and dangerous.” Stiles mulled over that for a second, shaking still.

“So I’m magic.”

“You’re capable of magic.”

“So, I could learn?” Stiles asked, hopeful. Maybe if he learned to control this ‘spark’, he could go home without the extensive, complicated and taxing ritual. After all, he had travelled in time without a ritual before, apparently.

“In theory.” Deaton said, moving over to his bookcase, looking through some books.

“And in practice?” Stiles asked. Getting a straight answer out of Deaton was like trying to get the old Derek to crack a smile.

“We’ll see.” Deaton said, plopping a heavy book in front of him. It wasn’t like the Tome, it was larger and bound in black leather, and the biggest difference was that it was in English: ‘An amateur guide to finding your inner power’.

“This isn’t like something Gweneth Paltrow sells on Goop, is it?” Stiles asked.

“Goop?”

“Oh right, wait a few years, I’m sure you’ll love it.”

“I can assure you this book will garner results, assuming you do have a spark. After all this is all speculative. I don’t think a hag would ever resort to time magic, especially to deal with a human, but who knows?”

Stiles opened the book and looked through the chapters. ‘Simple wards and incantations’, ‘Rituals and ritual circles’, ‘beginner’s guide to magical herbs’. It still seemed absurd that he was even capable of doing magic, let alone doing anything in the ‘basic enchantments and glyphs’ chapter.

“Start at chapter one, Stiles.” Deaton said, noticing where his eyes were trailing.

“Right, ‘Three tests for determining magical ability.” Stiles read outloud. Skipping the prologue and the warnings, because honestly who cared (making Deaton sigh), he read the title of the first test. “The Mountain Ash Test.”

“You have to make a large circle with only a small amount of mountain ash.” Deaton said, reaching to get some from beneath the table.

“Oh, I already did that.” Stiles said, not believing his words. “You gave me some mountain ash to encircle a building and I only had a tiny bit left.”

“And you didn’t think you were capable of magic then?” Deaton asked.

“I guess I forgot about it, or assumed I’d miscalculated.” Stiles reasoned.

Deaton nodded. “The human mind easily rejects that which it does not understand.”

“Okay Confucius, does that mean I can do magic, then?”

“Probably, best to do all three tests to make sure.”

“Ok, next one is called ‘The Third Eye’ test.”

“You have to see with your eyes closed.”

“Well that’s dumb. You aren’t telling me you can do that, can you?” Stiles said, rejecting the idea.

“You’ve travelled in time, Stiles.”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll try.” He quickly read the contents of the test and to be honest Deaton had pretty much summed it up. All he had to do was ‘open’ his third eye. “It’s not gonna be an actual physical eye on my forehead, is it? Because I don’t think I’d like that.” He shivered; the idea of it was creepy.

“It’s not a physical eye. It’s your inner eye. Your way of perceiving that which cannot be seen.” Deaton explained.

Stiles decided to just close his eyes. He focused, trying to see more than the darkness. He kept trying. Nothing. “Nothing.”

“You’re still looking with your eyes.”

Stiles opened his eyes. “Well how else am I supposed to look?” He said, slightly irritated.

“Don’t think of it as an eye. Think of it as another sense, an extension of yourself. When you made that mountain ash last, you tapped into it. It’s something inside of you, you just have to control it.”

Stiles took a deep breath. He could do this. He closed his eyes again. This time, he tried to feel something else, something like he had felt last time, after he realised, he was running out of mountain ash. He ignored his other senses, opting to search within, which was not easy at all with ADHD, but he persevered. He felt restless, like when the therapist he’d had shortly after his mother’s passing had tried to make him meditate. But if this was a potential path to seeing his pack again… his _other_ pack, he would keep trying. He realised he’d gotten distracted in his thoughts and focused again, searching for something inside of him, feeling through the nothingness to try and find something.

He soon got bored of searching, convinced it was a lost cause, but he pushed through it, because this wasn’t like looking for his keys throughout the house, this was magic. After what seemed like ages later, he found something: a nugget. A little fragment of hardened immaterial something, and when he reached for it, it sparked, and he gasped as the electricity ran quickly through his body, like his nerves had quadrupled. He reached for it again and enveloped it. It was a new feeling, not sharp like pain, nor long like hunger, nor all-encompassing like sight. He felt like the spark had lit a flame, and when he opened his eyes, it was still there within. He couldn’t locate where it was, both nowhere to be found and everywhere inside, both in his temples and his heart, in his stomach and in his brain.

He realised he was alone. “Deaton?” he called out. The sun was down and the light in the room was off. He heard, no, FELT, Deaton move throughout his apartment towards Stiles, and when he came in and turned on the light, he genuinely smiled.

“You found it.” He said, bleary-eyed. It was around 3 am, he knew, instinctively.

“I feel… everything.” Stiles said in wander.

Deaton’s smile turned into a frown. “How much?”

“I can feel the stubble growing on your chin, and the ticking of the clock in your office.” It felt amazing. He could feel all of the books on the shelves, AND their potential. He could feel the tiles on the kitchen floor, and that they had been put there 20 years ago.

Deaton approached and stood in front of Stiles, but Stiles wasn’t looking through his eyes. He kneeled down and put his hands on his shoulders. “Stiles, listen to me. You’ve grabbed your spark, and you’re using way too much power for someone untrained. You need to let go. You were only supposed to touch it.”

Stiles didn’t want to, because it felt so good to feel this way. But he also felt the sincerity and seriousness behind Deaton’s words, so he slowly unclasped himself from the spark, and felt the power fade away. Instead of feeling time passing, he just heard the pendulum of Deaton’s grandfather clock. He let go, and suddenly found himself completely drained, and slouched back against the sofa from his upright position. He was exhausted.

“Why…” Stiles started, and found his throat sore. “Why didn’t you tell me to touch it instead of grabbing it.” His vision was blurry, and he yawned.

“I didn’t think you’d even find it the first time. It took me a dozen tries, and it usually takes more.” Deaton said. “You’ve exhausted yourself, you’ll probably sleep for a day or two now. It’s okay, sleep now. I’ll take you home.

_Home_ , Stiles thought warmly, thinking of the Hale house. That was his last thought before he fell into a deep, restful and restorative sleep.

He woke slowly, not even realising he was awake. In this state, he could feel the spark inside. It wasn’t on fire though, like it had been before, it was just waiting to be tapped. Coming to lucidity, he thought it best not to touch it. He then realised he was awake, and opened his eyes, taking a deep breath. He was in his and Derek’s room, and it was light outside.

“Stiles?” he heard. It was Talia. He sat up to see her in a comfy wing chair, which she must have brought it. “Good afternoon.” She smiled at him.

“How long have I been asleep?” He asked.

“Two and a half days, it Thursday.”

“Deaton took me home?” He said, then realising he’d referred to the Hale house as home. If Talia had noticed, she didn’t say anything.

“He did. He also told me that you’re training as his apprentice, and that you’re aware we’re werewolves.” She said, matter-of-factly. There was a pause, and she shone her red eyes at him as if to prove a point.

“Yeah… about that-”

“It’s fine, I thought you might do. My family isn’t exactly subtle.” She said. He thought back to when Ellie was mad that Lauren was eating her cookies and had thrown her across the room.

“Not always, no.”

“I haven’t told anyone but Mike. I thought you might want the honours. It’s a tradition in our family. After Peter told Andre, he revealed that he knew 2 months later. It’s always a cause for celebration, and they usually do it at dinner.” She said.

“I think mine might cause more of a commotion.”

“You’d be surprised. When I invited Adam’s partner, Wen Yeh, round for dinner after they’d been dating a week, and she said she was aware, it definitely caused a commotion.” She chuckled. “It turns out she was a Kitsune, an Asian spirit guardian, and had known all along.”

“I’m not a Kitsune.” Stiles said.

“No, you’re Deaton’s apprentice.” She said, casually. After seeing his eyebrows raise, she said. “After Deaton brings one of my pack members home and says they’ll be sleeping for a few days, I demand answers, even from my emissary.”

“And how many answers did you get?” Stiles asked, wondering if she knew he was from the future.

“Enough.” She said, ominously. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to get ready. The teens should be home soon. It took a lot to convince Derek to go to school. By the way, Deaton left you something on the desk.” And with that, she left.

Stiles was more awake now, though when he stood up his legs were a little shaky. Moving over to the desk, he saw that Deaton had left him the book, with a post-it note: ‘Just touch it, don’t grab it.’ He left the book alone for now, because the prospect of using magic again was both exhausting and really odd. It was going to take him some time before he could say ‘Hi, I’m Stiles Stilinski and I can do magic’, although he probably wouldn’t be saying that at all. He took the draw of the dresser out to hide his book beneath it, but instead found a picture of a girl a bit younger playing the violin. He realised it must be Paige and felt like he was intruding, so he put it back and replaced the draw. He hid the book on top of the wardrobe instead, since he didn’t really want to tell Derek he could do magic when he’d barely accepted it himself.

Checking his phone, he realised he had a lot of missed texts from Joshua, becoming increasingly worried the further time went, before he simply said:

_Let me know if you want to talk and if you’re ok xo_

Stiles sent back a quick ‘ _Sorry my phone broke. I’ll text later’_ , which didn’t seem to do the worry in Joshua’s texts any justice.

He took a warm shower and explored the spark, without touching it. It was comfortable, as if it had been there the whole time. He also noticed it was still healing, as if he’d crushed it and it was slowly expanding back to its regular size.

When Derek and Laura arrived, they ran straight up his room, probably having been told by Talia that he was awake.

“Stiles!” They shouted, and he received a crushing hug. He hugged them back and laughed when they ended up on the ground. Eve and Piper came in and joined the puppy pile. Derek leaned in close. “I missed you.” He whispered.

“He’s been insufferable, Stiles.” Laura said, “It been Stiles this and Stiles that and ‘do you think we should wash him’?”. Derek went bright red.

“I never said that” He lied.

“No, I was there. He definitely said it.” Eve said. “He also said he wants to sm-” Eve was forced to stop talking when Derek’s hand went over her mouth and pushed her head roughly into Piper’s, causing a bang.

“Ow!” They said in unison.

“It’s sweet you were thinking of me, Derek.” Stiles said, trying to not make him feel embarrassed. Stiles had to admit the bathing comment was a little odd but sometimes Derek was just odd.

“STIWES?” Came a voice from the doorway. Lauren looked overjoyed, and joined the tangle of limbs. Ellie, who Stiles wasn’t as close to, stayed by the door.

“How’s my princess, huh?” Stiles said, ruffling Lauren’s hair.

“I kiwed the dwagons!” She announced, triumphantly, lifting her fist into the air and colliding with Derek’s forehead.

“You weren’t supposed to kill them, silly. You were supposed to talk to them.”

“But Awon and Etan can’t talks.” She said.

“She makes a good point.” Said Peter from the doorway.

“Peter.” Stiles said, respectfully. They were at that point, at least.

“Good to see you up. I’d join in but I think you’d all be crushed.” Peter joked.

“Coz ur fat!” Lauren declared, and everyone laughed.

At dinner, everyone greeted Stiles and said how happy they were that he was awake. Derek was attached to Stiles at the hip, to the point that Stiles did nearly fall over once. Dinner was amazing, and Stiles was famished, he realised, and for once he kept up with the fully-grown werewolves, even beating some of them.

“Someone’s a growing boy.” Said Mallorie happily, giving him seconds and thirds but Talia had put her foot down at fourths, saying that he was going to make himself sick. He still had a helping of dessert though, and Mallorie made sure to give him a suspiciously large serving, to which Talia turned a blind eye.

During desert, Talia shot Stiles a knowing look, and Stile cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention:

“So… when were y’all gonna tell me that you turn into wolves on the full moon?” He said as if it were normal dinner conversation. There were a few short seconds of silence before the uproar.

Derek was speechless, just staring at Stiles as if he had grown a third arm. Laura was shouting, telling Stiles that he could drown in hell. Lauren was cheering, releasing her claws and tearing into her food as if she’d been holding back for weeks. Eve and Piper were also shouting at Stiles, but instead suggesting that they had been lied to and that they would never trust him again. Peter exchanged an ‘I-can’t-believe-this’ look with Andre, before taking out his wallet and giving his $60. Talia was quiet and calm through it all, a hint of a smile playing on her lips as Mike realised that she had known and was holding her shoulder firmly asking her how long she’d known in such an urgent way that revealed just how taken aback he was. The Nana’s were chuckling maniacally as if they had known all along, looking at each person’s reaction in turn and laughing even harder. Mallorie was dumbfounded, before she stood up and pointed at Stiles accusingly, as if she’d been betrayed, but only jokingly. Aaron and Ethan were loving the racket and adding to it. Stiles just sat back and enjoyed the turmoil. After all, he had another reveal that would _spark_ even more chaos.

After dinner, Stiles and Derek were chilling in their room, Derek on his ‘reading spot’ otherwise known as the rafter, and Stiles more sensibly on his bed. They were both reading comic books that the other had suggested.

“I still can’t believe you knew.” Derek said, for the umpteenth time.

“You’ve said.” Stiles said, mindlessly.

This time, however, Derek closed his comic and fell from the rafters, landing on all fours and showing his blue eyes. Stiles rolled his eyes.

“But how did you know?” Derek asked, making his way towards Stiles and squishing against the wall as he made room for himself to lie beside him.

“The super strength, crazy attitude before the full moon, and toddlers with a proclivity towards biting _hard_ didn’t help.” Stiles said, nursing a bruise on his arm.

“But that couldn’t’ve been enough to know for sure.” Derek said. He knew Stiles was hiding something.

Stiles decided to tell Derek more. “I’ve known werewolves before. It’s part of the reason Deaton brought me to you all. And I knew you were werewolves before I came.”

“Why didn’t you say?” Derek asked.

“Well, to be honest because I knew the reveal would be fun.” Stiles said, cheekily, nudging Derek. Derek nudged back. Stiles pushed him on the floor.

“I missed you.” Derek said, from the floor.

Stiles smiled. “You’ve also said that before.”

“You were part of a pack, weren’t you?” Derek said, unexpectedly.

Stiles looked at him with mild shock before smiling. Derek was always more astute than he let on. “Yeah… I miss them.”

“What were they like?” Derek asked, getting back into Stiles’ bed and putting an arm around him.

“They were-” Stiles started, before his phone buzzed in his pocket. He quickly checked it, seeing a text from Joshua. Derek tensed up.

“You can take it.” He said, averting his gaze.

Stiles thought back to Derek’s insecurity about Stiles being too busy for him. He put his phone on silent and shook his head, putting it away. “No, you’re more important.” They shared a brief smile, and Stiles felt something stir in his stomach. Ugh, Talia was right, he shouldn’t have eaten so much. He continued, nonetheless: “They were– are brilliant. Scotty is my best friend and has been since kindergarten. Lydia, I used to crush on her but now she’s just the person who keeps me on my feet, intellectually speaking. The Alpha… I never knew what to think of him but now I think he was just a big softie with his walls built up.”

Derek frowned. “Doesn’t sound like Alpha material.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“I missed you.” Derek repeated, hugging Stiles fiercely, probably scent marking now that he thought about it.

“And I would have too if I hadn’t been unconscious.” Stiles supplied, then glancing at the dresser he remembered what he’d found. “Tell me about Paige.” Stiles prodded. This might not have been the best time, but he wanted to help Derek put his walls down.

Derek tensed. “What?”

“I told you about people from my past. Now it’s your turn.” Stiles took Derek’s hand in his own, squeezing it encouragingly.

“Umm... ok. I met her at school, she was shouting at us for being too loud in the halls while she was practising.” He smiled at the memory. “I kinda pursued her from there. She was beautiful. And we hit it off.” His smile downturned and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “And… and I made mistakes… and she died. She died in my arms.” He sobbed, so Stiles held him close.

“Shhhh.” He rocked him gently. “It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to feel pain.” Stiles tugged on his spark briefly, and in an instant, he felt the guilt and pain that Derek was feeling, the type that wrenched at your heart and clawed at your throat. He sobbed too, and they stayed like that, cradling each other, foreheads resting against each other's. He wanted to say that he would protect Derek, to make sure he would never feel that pain again, but as days passed, the ever-present impossible choice loomed in the back of his mind, and he knew that he couldn’t make that promise without Derek hearing the lie in his heart. So he just held him, and hoped that when he returned to the future, and he restored Derek’s memories of him as he hoped to do, that he would be forgiven. But he wasn’t holding his breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters in one day?? Aren't y'all a lucky bunch


	6. Chapter 6

_ Chapter Six _

__

The next day was school, and as much as he wanted to lie in, he didn’t feel like testing Talia’s patience. Friday was a slow day, with only 1 free period and with no one to spend it. He ended up sitting outside on a bench, flipping through his basic magic book. The fact that this was basic was mind-boggling to Stiles, which made him wonder just how powerful he could become… which scared him. He didn’t want that responsibility. He had said no to the werewolf bite for a reason. He was a clumsy, scatterbrained, morally complex individual. Power was meant for people like Scott, who had a clear vision of what was good and were competent at upholding those values.

Still, he’d be lying if he wasn’t getting a small power trip from learning about what he could do. He was on the second chapter, ‘simple corporal enhancement’, which described ways that mages could funnel magic into their own bodies, increasing healing, stamina, strength and speed. This time, however, he didn’t skip the warnings, having learned his lesson. The first rule of magic was that everything was balanced, so to gain power, it had to come from somewhere. Give and take. Using too much magic would deplete your reserves and exhaust you, and pushing past that, you could go into a coma or die, so it was imperative to your own limits.

In any case, Stiles read the incantation “ _eshrke k’ærdke hostke, hegom bu hweg”_ out loud, but there was no effect. He remembered that Deaton said to ‘touch’ the spark, so he did so, repeating the incantation while reaching into himself and connecting with that part of himself. Nothing happened. He frowned. He was most likely saying it wrong, considering that it looked and sounded like complete gibberish.

He didn’t have time to search the book for more information, because his phone rang. It was Deaton. He hadn’t even known that Deaton had his number since he hadn’t contacted him before.

“Hello?” Stiles answered.

“Stiles, I need you over here right now.” Deaton sounded out of breath. “It’s urgent.”

“Right… thing is Laura drove us to school this morning, so I don’t have a ride.” There was a loud crash on the other side of the call. “Deaton?”

“Then run!” Deaton shouted, before hanging up. Stiles’ heart was beating hard. Now would’ve been a good time for that speed increasing spell. He got up and realised even sprinting it would take him too long to get there and going in to find Laura would take even longer; Deaton needed him _now_. He quickly realised his only option. Laura was going to kill him.

He ran over to Laura’s car, picking up a brick on the way from where the school was building the new sport’s equipment shed and smashed through the driver’s side window. Getting in, he remembered the many times he’d hotwired his jeep and got to work. Luckily Talia didn’t let Laura drive the Camaro, or he’d be having a much harder time. He touched the two exposed wires together and sighed in relief as the car purred to life.

He made quick work of driving over to Deaton’s, running two red lights and breaking the speed limit. It was only 2:30, so the roads were relatively quiet since people were at work. Driving into the alleyway where the vets was, he saw that the door had been forced open, leaving small shards of glass everywhere. Stiles gasped as some were red. There was a crash from inside.

Stiles ran forward to the entrance, glancing in to see carnage. What had been the waiting room now looked like bomb-site, with broken furniture everywhere. There was a high-pitched wail from the corner, where _something_ flared its nostrils and recoiled from Stiles, hissing. It was vaguely reptilian, with scales covering its bony body, with an exposed spine that led to an equally bony, and very long tail, curving up to the ceiling. It had small, skinless wings which seemed obsolete, and its two eye sockets were empty save for a black ooze slowly dripping from them. Its mouth and nose were one and the same, as if the space between had been removed.

On the other side of the front desk, was Deaton, eyes wide and wary, breathing heavily. A gash on his forehead and another along his arm bled, where presumably the creature had thrown the furniture at him, not able to get past the mountain ash barrier.

“Stiles.” Deaton, sighed in relief, as Stiles walked through the damaged door. As soon as he entered the room, he felt something about the room environment change, but he couldn’t put his finger on it until he looked around, and where the door had been, was a lightless, pitch-black void. Looking to the door behind Deaton, the doorway revealed the same. The creature hissed in annoyance, and drew back further into the corner, squishing itself painfully.

“It’s an Apudumbra.” Stiles said, in realisation. It was one of the creatures that the Tome had described.

“Yes.” Deaton said. “Only you can get rid of it.” He added. Stiles stared at the now frantic creature that clawed at the walls.

“I… okay.” Stiles said, remembering its only weakness, as he approached it. Now it seemed terrified, frozen in place, but never made a move to hurt Stiles as it had done Deaton. Stiles reached out and tapped it, and it released a blood-curdling scream, before fizzling brightly out of existence.

The two men, or rather the man and the boy, were left there in a pregnant silence. The doorways returned to normal.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” Deaton asked. Stiles nodded, dumbly. He had memorised that whole chapter from the Tome, and Umbras were the first and most common creature that arose when there was a fracture. Stiles had broken the timeline, or at least, it was in the process of diverging from the original timeline that was from.

Apudumbras, or Shadowkin, were vile, mindless, hunting creatures. They hunted people one by one, starting with the first person the time traitor (the person who caused the rupture) had talked to since travelling back in time, and then moved onto the next, never-ending until they were stopped. When they entered an enclosed space with their quarry, they blocked off all exits using extradimensional magic. Luckily, that only worked one way, or Stiles wouldn’t have been able to enter. Despite possessing super-strength and speed, simply a touch from the time traitor would kill them.

“It’s not too late. Apudumbras only appear the first stage of a fracture, where the timeline is diverging but hasn’t yet broken. You can still steer the timeline back on course, but you have to figure out the thing that you changed.” Deaton explained, looking over his waiting room sadly.

“I know what it is.” Stiles said, thinking back to the night where Derek had rejected Kate.

“And you didn’t tell me?” Deaton said, disbelievingly.

“I didn’t know this would happen.” Stiles sighed, gesturing to the room. “I thought I had time.”

“Well, fix it. As soon as possible.” Deaton ordered. Stiles had never seen Deaton so frustrated and… angry? “Or do you not want to return to your timeline.”

Stiles sighed, after being scolded. Deaton was right to be mad, though. He’d been putting it off, and if he didn’t fix it soon, more bad things would happen. He thought back to the variety of monsters that the Tome had contained, many of which would be attracted to the source of a fracture. He had to find Kate. And he couldn’t afford to wait.

“I can do it.” Stiles said, putting his emotional connection to the Hales, his pack, on the backburner. He had to be rational. It wasn’t just about what _he_ wanted any more. Even if he wanted to save the Hales, which he wasn’t sure he did since it would mean he couldn’t go home, the resulting fracture would affect the rest of this timeline, even possibly threatening the Hales. “I’m sorry.” He apologised, looking around the ruined room and to the injured Deaton. Deaton just nodded and went to the back room.

He had to act now. He left the vets and began the drive back to the school, after hotwiring the car again. He was going to have to locate Kate, somehow. She would be living with her family, so as long as he found one of them he could find the others.

His train of thought was interrupted when he heard the bleep of a police car. Looking in the rear-view mirror behind him, he saw a police car signalling for him to pull over. _Shit_. He briefly considered driving away but that was just the adrenaline from destroying an extradimensional being with a touch of his hand. So, instead, he pulled over. He checked his phone quickly to see that he had several missed calls from Derek, Laura, Eve, Piper, and unfortunately, Talia. He would deal with that later, though, since, the officer was approaching his broken window.

He put on his best smile. “Hello, offic-uhh.” Stiles stumbled verbally.

“That’s Sheriff to you, young man.” His dad replied, sternly. He looked young, but sleepless and was wearing sunglasses, which told Stiles that he was hungover from his drinking problem he’d got after his mom’s death.

“Yes, Sheriff, sorry.” He said, orderly. The last thing he needed right now was to be arrested by his own father.

“Your window is broken, son.” His father said, suspiciously. Stiles felt something in him lurch from being called son. “And you’ve hotwired the car.” He added, leaning over to look at the wheel. This was not good.

“I forgot my keys.” Stiles tried, knowing that it was futile. Yep, he was gonna be arrested.

“Out of the car, son.” The Sheriff, sighed, getting out some handcuffs from his utility belt. Stiles gulped, but complied, getting out and waiting to be handcuffed. Out of seemingly nowhere, someone appeared behind the Sheriff and cleared their throat, making the Sheriff jump. Looking over, Stiles could see it was Joshua… could this day get any crazier?

“Hi there, Sheriff Stilinski.” Joshua said calmly.

“I’m a bit busy.” The Sheriff said, warily. “What do you need?”

“I couldn’t help but notice that this is all a big misunderstanding.” He said, not at all intimidated by the Sheriff.

The Sheriff frowned. “How so?”

“See, I’m the one that broke the window, hotwired the car and stole it. He was just returning it to the Hales.” Joshua lied, but somehow it sounded convincing. What was going on?

The Sheriff took a step back from Stiles, unable to ignore such an admission. “Is this true, son?” He asked Stiles, looking confused by the whole thing. Joshua shot Stiles a wink.

Stiles wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Though, it was more of a gift zebra, or maybe a zorse. “Yes, sir,” he lied, “I’m living with the Hales.”

“Right… well, I’ll need to take you both to the station then for your individual statements.” He said, unsure of the situation.

“That won’t be necessary, Sheriff.” Said Joshua, smoothly. “After all, I’m pleading guilty.”

“Errr… I suppose. Hands behind your back, son.” The Sheriff told Joshua, now more confident in his arrest. He looked over to Stiles. “You’re free to go. Stay out of trouble, and get the car fixed. You don’t wanna give anyone else the wrong impression.”

“Right…” Stiles said, shooting Joshua an ‘are you insane?’ look, before getting back in the car and driving away. What on earth had just happened? Something didn’t add up. The confusion didn’t last long, however, as Stiles drove into the high school’s car park and he was met by an angry, shouting Laura. The other three Hales stood around in various levels of anger.

“What the fuck, Stiles!” Laura shouted, but the previous events of the day had rocked Stiles so hard that he couldn’t even feign a reaction. “What the fuck!” She repeated, as he got out the car.

“Deaton had an emergency.” He simply said. “He was being attacked.”

“Attacked?” Derek, asked, worriedly. “And he called you?”

“Yeah… it’s complicated.” Stiles said, awkwardly. He really couldn’t explain why Deaton would have called the human teenager over the Alpha werewolf.

Laura huffed. “Well you’re gonna have to tell that to Mom. She’s not happy.” Stiles gulped.

Back at the Hale house, Talia wasn’t shouty like Laura; only a slow, burning fire behind her eyes revealed how mad she was. They were in the library, with Mike, Peter, Mallorie and Adam, Talia’s cousin and Mallorie’s brother. Laura would usually be here but due to her closeness to Stiles, she was excused.

“We’re going to need some answers.” Talia said, matter-of-factly. “Laura told me that Deaton called you when he was being attacked. Is that true?”

“Yes.” Stiles said. They were all listening to his heartbeat.

“And who was attacking him?” Adam asked.

“A creature called an apudumbra.” Mike looked confused, never having heard of one.

“And why did he call you instead of us?” Peter asked, looking at Stiles like he was trying to dissect him, understand him and record the data.

“Because…” Stiles hesitated, but he was going to have to do better than his usual response. “Because only the person who caused it into existence can kill it.” Stiles said, leaving the adults to think for a second.

Talia spoke up. “You created the creature?”

Stiles shook his head. “I made a mistake, which ultimately lead to its appearance. I’m going to fix it, though.”

“What kind of a mistake brings a creature into being?” Peter asked, suspiciously.

“An honest one.” Stiles said.

“Anything else?” Mallorie asked, softly. Stiles hesitated before shaking his head.

Talia sighed, before coming to a conclusion: “You’ll be helping Mike and Peter on some errands until we consider it enough to pay back for the damage to the car.” Mike and Peter were about to begin their objections but a glance from Talia warned them otherwise. “Other than that, should Deaton ever have any other urgent task for you, you can use the spare keys.” She said, tossing them to Stiles. “Now, go do your homework.” She said, even though it was a Friday and he had all weekend. He obeyed, shuffling out of there after getting a sympathetic glance from Mallorie. As soon as he got out, he was practically assaulted by Laura.

“So?” She said, arms crossed and inches away from him.

“Err I have to help your Dad and Uncle with some stuff, and I got the spare keys to the car.” Stiles said. He was too tired for this. He should be concentrating on finding Kate, but his mind was all over the place, thinking about his Dad, about Joshua and that whole weird situation, about being scolded and he was still taken aback by the whole apudumbra thing.

“That’s it?” Laura said, disbelievingly. “They really must like you.”

Stiles shrugged, walking past her to go to his room. She let him go. He walked upstairs, down the corridor and into his room, seeing Derek at the desk.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” Derek, replied, avoiding eye contact.

“Are you mad?” He asked.

Derek shook his head. “I just wish you’d at least shot us a text or something. You could’ve been hurt.”

“I was fine.”

“You’re a human. You don’t heal like us. Sometimes damage to you isn’t reparable.” Derek was getting upset now, getting himself into a state.

Stiles walked over and gave him a hug from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder. “I’m fine.” Derek relaxed into the hug.

“I have to tell you something.” Derek said, getting serious.

“Oh?” Stiles had had enough drama today, but he figured he may as well get it over with.

“When I got home, I came straight up here, and I smelled that my Dad and Uncle Peter had been in here.” Derek said, lowly.

Stiles frowned, not getting the point. “So?”

“Well, I localised the sent to under your bed. I think they were going through your stuff.”

“Oh, shit.” He didn’t keep a lot of things, and luckily his magic book was on his person currently, but one thing amongst his papers was his list. The list that alluded to him being from another time. The list that included number 7: to get Derek to fall in love with Kate.

“Is that bad?” Derek asked.

“It might be.” Stiles said. Stiles didn’t know what they would do with that information, but he was probably going to find out since he’d been tasked with running errands with and for them. He just prayed that they wouldn’t stop him from finding Kate.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, where he saw a text from Joshua:

_They let me out :) you owe me one_

What the hell was wrong with the world?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof this chapter was hard to write because I usually only like it when things are going well... but they were bound to come crashing down at some point. Informal chapter title: WTF IS HAPPENING


End file.
